Trump’s $12 Billion Payment to Farmers Comes in Rough Time for Louisiana Farmers

By Mark Ballard

Times-Picayune

WASHINGTON — With about half of Louisiana’s — and the nation’s — farmers facing dire financial straits, agricultural communities are hoping the $12 billion short-term relief ordered by President Donald Trump earlier this month will be enough to offset losses from trade wars, tariffs, depressed commodity prices, and increased planting costs.

“We’re struggling,” Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain said Tuesday, after returning from a weeklong trip to London in search of new markets to sell Louisiana’s crops. “About 50% of our farmers are facing significant challenges.”

China stopped buying American soybeans in retaliation for tariffs Trump imposed. Though China recently agreed to start purchasing soybeans again, “Louisiana experienced the greatest absolute decline, with agricultural exports to China down $1.85 billion,” the digital publication Farm Flavor noted in its analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture export data.

“The commodity prices, what the farmer receives, has declined dramatically since 2021, 2022,” Strain said. “But on the other side, production expenses, the cost of production, is still continuing to rise; it's 12% above that five-year average. So, the cost has gone up, but the price the farmers receive went down.”

Trouble for Louisiana farms

Strain is trying to persuade the financial community that, despite several unprofitable harvests for Louisiana farmers, the Trump money could be used to reduce producers’ debts and help obtain the loans necessary to plant next year’s crop in February and March.

Only about 46% of Louisiana farms are expected to be profitable in 2026, Strain said, citing a recent American Bankers Association survey of the lenders who write agricultural loans. That percentage has dropped each year from 80% in 2023, according to the report.

The loans, of course, vary depending on the size of the spread, but average up to $1.5 million, Strain said.

Without the money to continue, more Louisiana farmers will leave the fields. Louisiana already is losing farms — down to about 25,006 individual farms in census data from 2022, the latest available, before commodity prices declined and planting costs increased.

That’s why the banks will end up with the largest share of the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program money. The funds come from the proceeds of tariffs and is aimed at helping farmers who have struggled to sell crops because of “unfair market disruption,” Trump said Dec. 8.

“This relief will provide much-needed certainty as they get this year's harvest to market and look ahead to next year's crops,” Trump said during the White House announcement.

Trump won voters living in rural areas by 40 points, 69% of the rural total, in the 2024 presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4, provides stronger protection for row crop farmers. But those aspects of the law don’t take effect until October 2026, noted U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

Where does the money go?

The assistance will provide up to $11 billion of the $12 billion to be sent in February to producers who farm row crops, such as soybeans, corn, cotton and rice. The rest will go to specialty crops like sugar cane.

The exact amounts each farmer receives, up to $155,000, will be based on how many acres are planted with a particular crop using a formula. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release the payment rates Monday, December 22.

National Farmers Union President Rob Larew was appreciative of the Trump initiative but warned it may not be enough.

“Short-term payments, while important, are only a first step,” Larew said in a statement. “What we truly need are long-term structural fixes that restore viability and stability to family farms and ranches for generations to come. In real time, we are experiencing the consequences of farm policy that is woefully outdated. The farm safety net can’t keep up with today’s economic realities. Input costs remain high, trade relationships are uncertain, access to affordable health care is in danger, and the stress on rural communities continues to grow.”

The American Farm Bureau in October calculated that farmers have lost up to $50 billion in 2025 because of increased costs and lower prices. Breaking down losses per acre, per crop, the report concluded that, for instance, soybeans lost about $154 per acre.

Louisiana plants about 1.2 million acres of soybeans, most of which are sold to China.

Farmers in southwest Louisiana predominantly plant rice, and are experiencing significant losses per acre, according to the American Farm Bureau report. In north Louisiana, producers primarily grow corn, soybeans and cotton, also at a loss for the past two years. In south central Louisiana, the main crop is suga rcane, which is doing better.

West Baton Rouge Parish farmer Donald Schexnayder says he and his two brothers primarily grow soybeans, corn and some sugar cane. They plan to use the Bridge Assistance to offset the increasing expenses.

“Everything from fertilizer to insurance to machinery has gone up. So, this is going to help bridge some of that gap,” he said.

The son of a farmer, Schexnayder’s dad had instilled in his sons to set aside money for down times, which come every seven or eight years.

“You plan for it,” Schexnayder said. “We’re not going to be spending money on new equipment or replacing equipment that needs to be replaced ... I think we can survive and others like us can survive.”

State of Louisiana’s Farm Economy by Michael DeLiberto, LSU Agricultural Center, Oct. 6, 2025

Dr. DeLiberto details the three-year decline in operating margins for corn, cotton, rice, and soybean farms and the outlook for farm economy i…

Direct costs of operation include fuel, labor, seed, chemicals, fertilizer, chemical applications, whether that's from an airplane or a sprayer, irrigation costs, said Michael DeLiberto, an agricultural economist at LSU. “That's not counting machinery financing, that's not considering family living expenses, that's not considering land rent.”

For example, he said, a Louisiana farmer may spend $1,000 to grow 190 bushels of corn per acre. The market price needs to be between $3.86 per bushel to pay minimal expenses to $5.42 to cover all expenses, he said.

The price per bushel for delivery in December 2026 is $4.80.

“He’s going to be able to cover direct costs and his machinery costs. But he’s not able to cover general overhead. He’s not going to make a profit,” DeLiberto said.

His recent study of Louisiana agriculture paints the picture of farmers juggling low commodity prices, high input costs, inflation along with market disruptions, trade uncertainty and a lack of competitiveness of U.S. exports overseas.

Many of those issues are being addressed. But the question is how fast.

“No farmer is set up to weather consecutive four or five years of tight to nonexistent or negative margins,” DeLiberto said. “Farmers are optimistic, but I think, if 2026 is as challenging as 2025 was, 2027 is going to be very, very concerning for farm survivability.”