Brooke Rollins said the announcement will come soon.
The Trump administration plans to soon outline details of payments to farmers struggling in the current economy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture secretary said on Nov. 19.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during an appearance on NewsNation that “there’s no doubt that the farm economy for a lot of reasons is really, really struggling right now,” noting how China refused to buy soybeans during negotiations on a trade agreement with the United States.
China buys about half of all U.S. soybean exports.
In the agreement that was hammered out, China committed to buying 12 million metric tons of soybeans from the United States before the end of 2025, and at least 25 million metric tons per year in the next three years. China is going to be buying “a lot of soybeans,” President Donald Trump told reporters this month.
Farmers are going to see improvements due to the deal with China, and similar agreements with other countries, Rollins said.
“We will soon be announcing a potential bridge payment for those still facing losses,” Rollins told NewsNation.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for more information.
The National Farmers Union in October urged Trump to issue payments to struggling farmers, saying they “face severe economic challenges and a deepening crisis if they do not receive immediate assistance.”
The tariffs imposed on other countries, as well as ongoing trade negotiations, “have wreaked havoc on our markets, driving commodity prices far below the cost of production,” while costs for inputs such as fertilizer have been rising, Rob Larew, the union’s president, said in a letter to the president.
The number of farms has declined since a peak in the early 1900s, and ticked down to 1.8 million in 2024, according to federal data. Without intervention, that number will drop even further, Larew said.
The Trump administration said on Nov. 17 that it is sending to farmers more than $16 billion in congressionally approved Supplemental Disaster Relief Program funds, on top of more than $9.3 billion in funding from a separate emergency program. The programs are meant for farmers who suffered losses from hurricanes or other disasters.
