Farmers Face Bridge Assistance Program Deadline, U.S. Faces Increased Latin American Competition

Farmers who failed to accurately report their 2025 acreage reporting by 5 p.m. Friday, December 19, could miss out on their share of the $12 billion USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance Program.

The program provides emergency help for farmers struggling with repercussions from President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports, low commodity prices, and higher costs.

Acreage reporting will help the USDA determine individual assistance for farmers.

USDA Farmer Bridge Assistance Program Factors

“Once we have that and know the formulas that we are going to use,” said Richard Fordyce, USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, as reported by Hoosier Ag Today.

“So, we’re going to use production cost models, USDA production cost models. We’re going to use the WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates). Not completely sure which one, depending on timing, from a price standpoint, and the 2025 planted acres. So, we will be announcing, by crop, the payment rate by crop around Monday, December 22,” Fordyce said.

Fordyce reminded farmers that there are limits on the assistance.

• Payment cap to individual/legal entity: $155,000

• Adjusted gross income: $900,000 annually

RELATED: American Farmland Owner previously showed how some U.S. farmers have been divided on how much help the $12 billion aid package would mean for them.

China Builds Soybean Partnerships Outside of the United States

Part of the divide among farmers is the difference in their faith in whether President Trump can restore or replace the millions of bushels lost in soybean exports to China since his first administration.

China has looked elsewhere. The country’s outreach to Latin America in building out a supply chain pre-dates the first Trump administration that began in 2017. However, since Trump escalated tariffs on Chinese exports, China has never again matched its purchases of what was once nearly 60% of American soybean exports.

Brazil replaced the U.S. as China’s top soybean trade partner during the first Trump administration, and it remains the biggest supplier today.

Investigate Midwest reported that one of China’s most strategic port investments is on Brazil’s southeastern coast in the Port of Santos. A different Chinese company has significant investment in the Port of Chancay on Peru’s Pacific coast.

The billions in investments demonstrate the threat for American soybean producers as China has now built out what it hopes will be a consistent and cheaper supplier for soybeans rather than with the United States.

One additional benefit – and potentially significant – is that the Port of Chancay can provide a more direct route to China. That offers a possible 20% savings on transport costs, according to the Investigate Midwest report.

As China continues to develop the Port of Chancay, it will also add to its potential as a regional redistribution hub. Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia could all send agricultural exports through the hub to China, broadening rival production for the United States beyond soybeans.

RELATED: Illinois land broker Liz Strom – who is also President of the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers -- follows the Latin American competition for U.S. soybean farmers. She is also tracking a slowdown in what had been an escalation in farmland values.