WASHINGTON – Today the Trump administration announced yet another multibillion-dollar round of trade-war-related bailouts for the agricultural industry.
The $12 billion the administration is set to dole out will likely once again flow to the largest and wealthiest farm operations in the country. The payments announced today are being dubbed a “bridge payment” as they continue to finalize plans for further rounds of payments.
New rules allowing increased payment limits and loopholes created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, will effectively permit corporate farms to take in unlimited amounts of subsidies. On top of that, fewer dollars will be available for small- and medium-size farms, which struggle the most because of the ongoing trade wars.
An analysis of Agriculture Department payment data shows that 6,430 big farm operations each collected $100,000 or more since 2018 in each of the past three bailouts. Of those, a staggering 2,191 operations each took in more than a total of $1 million in government bailout payments from the three bailouts.
But a very different situation played out for the vast majority of farmers who sought bailout payments, including small farms. During the last Trump trade war bailout, nearly 400,000 struggling farmers each received less than $10,000.
This imbalance of payments continues to echo statements from President Donald Trump’s first term Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who said farmers should get big or get out – arguing corporate large farms, not small farms, are the future.
Current Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in May that the administration’s farm policies would support small farmers. But the bailout actions announced today are the exact opposite.
“Farm policies have long supported the largest and wealthiest farms,” said Anne Schechinger, the Environmental Working Group’s Midwest director and an agricultural economist. “The Trump administration had an important opportunity to change that but instead chose to send even more money to large and corporate farms and further disadvantage small farms, which are struggling the most under the president’s trade policies.
“These bailouts are a direct result of the president’s own trade war with China, which greatly downsized our largest soybean market and is now forcing taxpayers to prop up the biggest players, not the farmers who need help the most,” she said.
Congress and the administration through the OBBBA increased payment limits for wealthy farms, created loopholes for corporate farms, and allowed more “city slickers” to collect agricultural subsidies.
An EWG analysis of the payment increases guaranteed by the OBBBA shows that fewer than 6,000 farms are likely to receive an increase of more than $5,000 annually. This estimate is based on average increases to payments made to recipients through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs over the past five years. The beneficiaries of the payment increases are very likely to be the largest and wealthiest farms, which already get the most from the programs.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
