Farmer Bridge Assistance Payments

On December 8, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that $12 billion will be made available for the initiation of the long anticipated “Farmer Bridge Assistance” (FBA) program. The FBA program will provide economic assistance payments to producers of certain crops to offset low prices and poor profit margins for the 2025 crop year, as well as the market price impacts from tariffs on export markets for certain crops in the past year. Full details of the FBA payment calculations have not yet been announced by USDA; however, it appears that many aspects of the FBA payments will be very similar to the Economic Community Assistance Program (ECAP) that was implemented earlier this year for losses from the 2024 crop year. 
Following is a brief summary of some of the known details and potential calculations for the likely FBA 
economic assistance payments: 
• Eligible commodities - Of the $12 billion in total, $11 billion of the payments will be paid to the traditional farm program commodities, which includes corn, soybeans, wheat, grain sorghum, barley, oats, cotton, dry peas, large chickpeas, peanuts, rice small chickpeas, and other oilseeds. The remaining $1 billion will be held back for economic assistance for specialty crop producers. No details have been released on how the specialty crop funds will be allocated. 
• Eligible acres - FBA payments will be based on the 2025 planted acres of eligible crops, as reported to local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices. Farmers that have not reported their 2025 crop acres to their FSA office need to do so by December 19 in order to be eligible for the FBA payments. 
• Payment timing - The specific payment details, including the payment levels for each crop, will be announced by late December of 2025, with program enrollment at FSA offices to follow. The FBA payments are expected to be distributed by late February of 2026. 
• Payment formula - The exact payment formula has not been announced; however, it was stated that the FBA payments will be calculated using a uniform formula that is based on 2025 planted acres of eligible crops. This sounds very similar to the formula for the ECAP payments, which was based on 2024 planted acres. ECAP payments were calculated by taking the projected revenue, which was the 10-year average yield times the projected 2024-25 market year average (MYA) price in the December WASDE report, minus the 2024 average production cost for a commodity, based on USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) data. The recent WASDE Report on December 9 listed the 2025 expected MYA prices at $4.00/bu. for corn ($4.10/bu. In 2024); $10.50/bu. for soybeans ($10.20/bu. In 2024); and $5.50/bu. for wheat ($5.60/bu. In 2024). The maximum ECAP payments for 2024 were $42.91 per acre for corn, $29.86 per acre for soybeans, and $30.69 per acre for wheat. Some analysts expect the 2025 FBA payments to be slightly higher than those levels. 
• Payment limits - The payment limit for the FBA payments will be $155,000 per eligible person or entity. There will not be higher payment limits based on having 75 percent of taxable income received from farming enterprises. 
Many farmers and ag lenders are currently beginning their crop budgets and cash flow planning for the 2026 crop year, and as a result are wondering what level of FBA payments to safely include as estimated income in 2026. While we will not know the exact FBA payment formula until late December, it appears that a safe FBA payment estimate for crop producers with corn, soybean, and wheat acres is probably near $25 to $30 per acre for acres planted to those crops in 2025. Farmers seeking more information on the “Farmer Bridge Payments” can contact their local FSA office. Any updates on the FBA requirements or payment rates will likely be announced on the USDA FSA website at: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/ 

Very Little Change In The December WASDE Report 
The monthly USDA WASDE report released on December 9 offered very few changes from the November WASDE report. The biggest change was a projected increase in corn export levels for the 2025-26 marketing year, which continues until August 31, 2026, along with a corresponding reduction in the estimated corn ending stocks for the year. There was no change from the November report in the 2025 corn and soybean production estimates, or in the soybean export and carryover levels for 2025-26. Overall, there was very little reaction to corn and soybean market prices on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) following the release of the WASDE report. 
The December WASDE report maintained the 2025 national average corn yield of 186 bushels per acre and the 2025 U.S. harvested corn acreage of 90 million acres, resulting in an estimated record total U.S. corn production of 16.75 billion bushels for 2025. This compares to 14.89 billion bushels in 2024, the previous record of 15.34 billion bushels in 2023, and just under 13.7 billion bushels in 2022. Total corn usage for the 2025-26 marketing year is now estimated at 16.28 billion bushels, which is up 7.5 percent from 15.14 billion bushels in 2024-25. USDA is now projecting an increase of 342 million bushels in corn exports in 2025-26 compared to a year earlier, along with slight increases in the amount of corn used for feed and ethanol in the current marketing year, 
USDA updated the estimated 2025-2026 U.S. corn ending stocks to just under 2.03 billion bushels, which was lowered by 125 million bushels from the November estimate. This is still an increase of 32 percent from the carryover level of 1.53 billion bushels in 2024-25, and compares to 1.76 billion bushels in 2023-24, and 1.36 billion bushels in 2022-23. Based on current estimates, the corn stocks-to-use ratio would be at 12.5 percent for 2025-26, which compares to previous levels of 10.1 percent for 2024-25, 11.8 percent for 2023-24, and 9.9 percent for 2022-23. The continued higher level of corn supply could keep local basis levels fairly wide for future corn marketing opportunities in many portions of the Midwest. 
Even with the higher export projection, USDA left the estimated the U.S average on-farm cash corn price for the 2025-2026 marketing year at $4.00 per bushel, which was the same as the November report. The USDA marketing year average price estimate is the expected average farm-level price for the 2025 crop year from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026; however, this does not represent estimated prices for either the 2025 or 2026 calendar year. The projected 2025-26 average corn price of $4.00 per bushel would be the lowest since the 2019-20 price of $3.56 per bushel, and compares to other recent final average corn prices of $4.24 per bushel in 2024-25, $4.55 per bushel in 2023-24, and $6.54 per bushel in 2022-23. 
Total U.S. soybean production for 2025 is estimated at just over 4.25 billion bushels, which was the same as the November estimate. The anticipated production is based on harvested soybean acreage of 80.3 million acres and a final yield of 53 bushels per acre. Total soybean demand for 2025-26 is projected at 4.3 billion bushels, which represents a decrease from the usage level of just under 4.43 billion bushels in 2024-25. The projected soybean export level for 2025-26 is 1.63 billion bushels, which would be a decline of 240 million bushels compared to a year earlier. Interestingly, there was no change in projected total soybean exports from the November WASDE report, even with the recent China trade deal that detailed potential soybean exports in the coming year. 
The U.S. soybean ending stocks for 2025-26 are estimated at 290 million bushels, which was unchanged from the November WASDE report. This compares to recent soybean carryout levels of 316 million bushels in 2024-25, 342 million bushels in 2023-24, and 264 million bushels in 2022-23. The projected 2025-26 carryout level is still well below the very high ending stocks of 523 million bushels in 2019-20 and 913 million bushels in 2018-19. The soybean stocks-to-use ratio for 2025-26 is estimated at 6.7 percent, which is down from a ratio of 7.1 percent in 2024-25 and 7.3 percent in 2023-24, and is far lower than the ratio of 23 percent in 2018-19. The projected U.S. average farm-level soybean price for the 2025-26 marketing year is $10.50 per bushel, which is the same as the November estimate. The projected 2025-26 average price compares to recent price levels of $10.00 per bushel on 2024-25, $12.40 per bushel in 2023-24, and $14.20 per bushel in 2022-23. 
For additional information contact Kent Thiesse, Farm Management Analyst, Green Solutions Group Phone --- (507) 381-7960; E-mail --- [email protected]