The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced the Farm Bridge Assistance Program (FBA) in December to address the decrease in exports and market disruptions that are hitting farmers hard.

The program promises $11 billion to go towards farmers to bridge the gap between now and when the changes from the One Big Beautiful Act are applied on Oct. 1, 2026. Farmers will receive payments on Feb. 28, 2026, based on the acreage and type of crops they reported in December. 

An official statement from the USDA said the program is “in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs that are still impacting farmers following four years of disastrous Biden Administration policies.” 

The amount paid per acre is based on data from the Economic Research Service and the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, both of which are run by the USDA. 

Barry Goodwin, a professor in the departments of agricultural and resource economics, said that crop farmers across the state have been feeling the impacts of the unpredictable tariffs of the Trump administration.

“We have a lot of different crops, and so it’s hard to characterize everything in general because there’s a lot of different things going on,” Goodwin said. “But it’s the case that corn and soybean growers in North Carolina are feeling the pressure, just like everyone else.”

Goodwin said that, in addition to China refusing to purchase U.S. exports, it has also been a high-yield year for soybeans and corn, meaning prices are being pushed down.

“Corn and soybean farmers in North Carolina, which there’s quite a few of, are suffering financial pressures right now,” Goodwin said.
”I go to talk to some of my students who come from the farms, and they certainly are feeling it. These bridge assistance payments are going to be welcome to them.”

Representative Eric Ager, who began serving District 114 of North Carolina in 2023, lives on a small farm in Buncombe County. He is on the General Assembly’s Agriculture and Environment committee alongside North Carolinians from across the state who represent the interests of their constituents, farmers and city-goers alike. 

Ager said programs like Farm Bridge Assistance primarily impact farmers producing commodity crops such as soy beans, corn, tobacco, cotton or sweet potatoes because they are most impacted by international trade.

“When it comes to a lot of the big commodities, they are really impacted by international trade and the turmoil in the international trading system created by the current president and his tariffs and desire to build leverage,” Ager said. “It has a huge impact on folks, but that is primarily folks who are in the commodity system and don’t sell their food locally.”

But it’s not only exporting farmers that have been hurting under the current tariff wars. As commodity farmers export less, their product remains in the domestic market, which lowers the prices for everyone. 

“If the soybean farmers in the Midwest, who generally export to China, don’t have that market available, those soybeans are gonna stay here and there’s gonna be more soybeans than there usually is in the domestic market, and that means that prices for the soy beans that you sell are going to decrease,” Ager said.

A recent paper written by Jeffrey Dorfman, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at NC State, found that North Carolina farmers face up to $695 million in potential losses from tariff retaliations. The investigative report was paid for by the John Locke Foundation, a conservative, nonpartisan nonprofit.

“As I looked into the Farm Bridge assistance program, it looks like North Carolina’s gonna get about $146 million out of that program, which obviously doesn’t add up to $695 billion,” Ager said.

Farmers regularly receive federal money to compensate for an unreliable market. Whenever income falls due to a high yield, commodity programs pay farmers to ensure they have a steady income. There are also federal crop insurance programs that compensate for revenue shortfalls or yield declines. In contrast, the FBA is a one-time support given on top of regular payments.

Ager said the state budget would be another chance for farmers to receive monetary support, but after significant funds were put into recovery from Hurricane Helene, it isn’t likely.

“I predict that we won’t see significant funding from the state level to help farmers get through the tariff problem because I don’t think there’s a huge amount of money there,” Ager said. 

The state budget is currently stalled in a standoff between republican lawmakers in the House, and will likely not be passed until after the 2026 primaries in March. 

“I do think American farmers can compete anywhere in the world,” Ager said. “And so these tariff policies, I think, are generally negative for farming, and you can’t prop up farmers with federal funds, I suppose, but that costs the American taxpayer a significant amount of money when farmers would probably be much better off if they could just compete on an open international market.”

Dorfman wrote in his report for the John Locke Foundation, “The easiest way to avoid the risks from countries retaliating against the U.S. for placing restrictions on international trade is not to put restrictions on international trade in the first place.”