BRIDGE TO 2025

USDA aids distressed borrowers as lawmakers seek emergency ag aid.

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The USDA gave more than 4,600 financially distressed borrowers the chance to see another production season by making $250 million in past-due payments on their loans in October.

Meanwhile, farm-state lawmakers raised the possibility the lame duck session of Congress could provide an aid package to farmers to offset low commodity prices and high production costs.

"Farmers across the country need a bridge to help their family farms survive into next year," Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a news release. "We need to provide emergency assistance to address the economic losses that farmers are facing associated with the 2024 crop."

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall took a similar view: "Until a new farm bill is enacted," Duvall added, "Farm Bureau calls on lawmakers to provide funds for natural disaster and economic assistance to bridge the gap."

After three high-income years, farmers are pinched by high costs, and commodity prices that are returning to pre-pandemic levels, Boozman said. "[T]here will be fewer farmers in 2025 if Congress does not respond." Federal finances are likely to dominate the post-election session of Congress, scheduled to convene after Veterans Day and run for three weeks.

Recovery work from hurricanes Helene and Milton was rapidly depleting disaster funds. Looming behind that was the Dec. 20 expiration of stopgap government funding, including for the USDA. Those issues could overshadow agriculture but also provide a vehicle for action.