(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Kansas Monday evening the U.S. Department of Agriculture will soon begin a “harvest fuel relief program” that will provide farmers with $8 billion to offset record-high diesel costs.
“When Republicans win, we will pass even more funding for our farmers,” the president said at a rally near Wichita alongside incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.
In an effort to contain soaring prices, Trump issued an executive order in September allowing temporary on-road use of red-dye diesel without fines or penalties.
In October, the president negotiated a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin that temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian fuel exports in exchange for an immediate supply of 300,000 tons of diesel to global markets, and he pressured G7 Countries to release emergency crude and refined products stockpiles to further increase global supplies.
“Today, I am proud to announce alongside President Trump more targeted relief is coming to our farmers through the Harvest Fuel Relief program,” said Rollins. “This $8 billion investment will help bring certainty to our farmers during this harvest so they can continue to feed our nation.”
The USDA website shows the $8 billion funding package will be distributed as one-time payments to American farmers. The program will provide “proportional support to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2026 crop year.”
Funding provided early this year to 560,000 farmers across the country under the Farmer Bridge Assistance program totaled $12 billion, according to the USDA. Two weeks ago, nearly $14 billion in gross payments were provided through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, with an increase of about $8 billion mandated this year through the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.
John Newton, vice president of public policy and economic analysis at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the impacts on ag finances will be determined in November when the USDA rolls out the formulas used to govern program payments. Newton said in a podcast that it’s not yet clear “how we’re going to help specialty crop producers, how we’re going to help fishermen, and the many other commodities that are likely in need of support, given the high diesel prices that they face.”
This article was originally published by The Center Square and is republished under its open-access guidelines.