‘It’s starting to wear thin with these tariffs.’ Iowa farmers consider ‘bridge payment’

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says farmers can expect an announcement about a relief package next week. The Trump Administration is expected to provide $40 billion in aid for farmers this year.

It’s expected to provide $10 to $14 billion, a “bridge” payment until new agriculture programs go into effect in 2026. Right now, Iowa farmers are struggling with their main crops, corn and soybeans, as their biggest buyer, China, has some of the strongest tariff tensions with the U.S.

“Those fixed costs come by every year, whether we make money in soybeans and corn or not,” said Joe Dierickx, a farmer in Clinton County. “So that’s the point, that it’s starting to wear thin with these tariffs, ’cause there’s getting to be some stress out in the countryside.”

“What that will mean, longer term, is potentially higher Chapter 12 farmer bankruptcies, farmers dipping into cash reserves or potentially having to borrow back against their operating line as they may not be able to pay off their full operating line this year,” said Delaney Howell, market analyst and farmer from Rhodes, Iowa.

Dierickx says a few other things need to be put in place to help farmers develop a domestic market.

“All they have to do is roll out the nationwide 15 percent ethanol blend into gasoline,” said Dierickx.

And Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) says a provision like that should be in the works.

“Now that should be an easy lift for the President of the United States, because he issued a waiver this year for E-15 year-round, nationwide,” said Grassley.

That waiver has been signed for the last six years, including the Biden Administration era. Dierickx says he’s seen plenty of hard times in his 40 years of farming and hopes the package will help farmers get to the next season.

“If we can stay resilient and tough, why, we can get through this,” said Dierickx.

The aid would come before new programs in the budget start next year.

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