USDA announces $8 billion in Harvest Fuel Relief payments for farmers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $8 billion in one-time payments to American farmers through the new Harvest Fuel Relief (HFR) program to address market disruptions and increased input costs during the 2026 harvest season.

President Donald Trump and Brooke Rollins, U.S. secretary of agriculture, announced the program Oct. 19.

The program will provide proportional payments to producers based on a uniform formula designed to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2026 crop year.

USDA will calculate a national loss average using planted acreage reported to the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Economic Research Service production cost estimates and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yield and price data.

The $8 billion program is authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and will be administered by FSA.

USDA plans to release commodity-specific payment rates for Title I commodities in November. Payment methodology for other eligible commodities will be announced later.

Crop insurance enrollment will not be required to participate.

USDA also requested information on increased fuel costs from producers of non-Title I commodities, including specialty crop growers and fishermen, to help determine payment rates.

Producers can prepare for the application period by creating a Login.gov account linked to USDA, which will allow them to access pre-filled applications online.

The announcement followed $12 billion in one-time payments to more than 560,000 farmers through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program earlier in 2026.

USDA also reported nearly $14 billion in gross payments through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs earlier in October, approximately $8 billion more than producers would have received without changes under the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.

USDA has not announced an application opening date for the Harvest Fuel Relief program.