Boozman, Hoeven call for more farm aid 

One day after 56 farm groups called on Congress to provide more farm aid and House Agriculture Committee Democrats announced they will introduce a bill to make changes to Trump administration policies affecting agriculture and food, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Hoeven, R-N.D., said Congress should provide more aid as it writes funding bills before the current continuing resolution covering some federal agencies expires on Jan. 30. 

Boozman and Hoeven did not say how Congress should come up with the money to provide additional aid, but said the components should be:

• “Expanded coverage for the FBA [Farm Bridge Assistance] program. Additional funds would cover a greater share of producer losses, allowing farmers to receive bankable and timely assistance.
• “Include acres that were prevented from being planted as eligible acres under the FBA program. 
• “Align payment limitations with improvements included in the One Big Beautiful Bill to ensure assistance better covers the level of losses farmers are experiencing. 
• “Additional assistance for losses that exceed national averages. Providing separate funds for producers who were forced to sell at depressed prices or experienced higher costs of production would help further target the available assistance while allowing the FBA and expanded FBA funds to reach farmers immediately.
• “Expanded support for specialty crop producers. Providing USDA the funding and flexibility to implement a program that addresses the unique challenges of specialty crops. 
• “Assistance for sugar beet and cane growers. Providing sugar farmers needed relief in a time of record losses in an oversupplied market.
• “Increased Farm Ownership and Operating Loan limits. Increasing loan limits would improve access to credit that meets current producer demand.”

Boozman said in the news release, “America’s farmers are resilient, hardworking and deeply committed to feeding and clothing our nation.”

“Unfortunately, resilience and hard work are not enough to withstand the significant challenges that have been mounting for several years. The message is clear that while they are extremely grateful for the investments Congress, President Trump and Secretary Brooke Rollins recently delivered, they need more help to keep farming. We need to maintain a safe, affordable and reliable food supply and the only way to achieve that is to support the men and women who make that possible,” Boozman said.

Hoeven added in the news release, “This assistance is all about getting our farmers through this year to fall when the improvements we were able to secure in the One Big Beautiful Bill, including expanding access to affordable crop insurance, increased reference prices, and improved livestock disaster programs, come into play.”

“This is the additional piece we need, along with the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program recently announced by President Trump and Secretary Rollins. This assistance will provide additional support for row crops, specialty crops, sugar beets, prevent plant, and better account for basis and cost of production concerns. We also increase farm ownership and operating loan limits so producers can access capital to help with higher costs,” Hoeven said.

“Our goal is to ensure that farmers and ranchers can make it through this challenging period and continue their operations now and into the future.”

Asked for a reaction, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, told The Hagstrom Report, “I have long supported additional assistance for our farmers who have been harmed by the president’s chaotic tariff agenda. As farmers and families battle higher prices from the president’s trade policies, I look forward to working with my Republican colleagues on additional relief for both farmers and families.”

Farm Credit Council President and CEO Christy Seyfert thanked Boozman and Hoeven for their call for additional assistance and stressed the importance of increasing Farm Service Agency loan limits. 

“Many row crop and specialty crop producers continue to struggle because of economic and weather pressures outside of their control,” Seyfert said. “This proposal will help farmers and ranchers until updated farm bill programs take effect this fall.”

“Further, including increased FSA loan limits is an important step in ensuring farmers and ranchers can access credit to survive this downturn and expand their operations in the future,” Seyfert said.

“Farm Credit has supported increasing these loan limits since the beginning of the farm bill process. Farm Credit appreciates the senators’ work on this vital provision and looks forward to working with FSA in leveraging this enhanced tool to strengthen farmers, ranchers and rural communities.”

The farm groups said that the $12 billion in the Farm Bridge Assistance program that the Trump administration has said it will provide using the Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA’s line of credit at the Treasury, is not enough to keep farmers going until the agriculture provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act go into effect on Oct. 1. 

 The FBA program will provide $11 billion to row crop growers and $1 billion to be divided among other farmers including sugar and specialty crop producers.

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, which represents growers of fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery, greenhouse, and floriculture products, signed the letter from the broad farm bill coalition, but also said in a separate news release Friday that “Any agricultural aid package should reflect the economic contribution of specialty crops, which support rural communities and provide key nutrition.”

Noting that specialty crops “generate more than $75 billion annually in U.S. agricultural cash receipts, account for more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales, and support rural economies nationwide,” the alliance said its growers deserve one-third of the agricultural relief funding.

Congress has already passed and President Trump has signed the fiscal year 2026 agriculture appropriations bill, but Congress must pass other appropriations bills or another continuing resolution funding those agencies after Jan. 30. 

The Food Research & Action Center and state and local government groups have said that Congress should address the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that were contained in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

The framework that House Agriculture Democrats unveiled Friday would provide $28 billion in “family relief” to make up for cuts to SNAP, $29 billion for assistance to family farmers and also “reassert congressional authority” over tariff policy.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, said at a news conference she believes bills to provide the aid will be introduced this week.