Trump Announces $8 Billion Harvest Fuel Relief Program for Farmers Amid Diesel Surge
President Trump announced an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief program at a Kansas rally on Monday to help farmers cover soaring diesel costs, with payments tied to modeled losses and commodity rates expected in November.
President Donald Trump announced an $8 billion Harvest Fuel Relief program Monday evening to help farmers offset rising diesel costs and other increased input expenses, unveiling the new aid at a rally in Park City, Kansas, where he was stumping for Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).
The program is aimed at the fuel costs farmers face during harvest. Fox Business reported that the payments respond to disruptions to the global energy supply that the administration links to attacks from Iran and its terrorist proxies in the Middle East.
“Tonight, I’m also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new Harvest Fuel Relief program, providing our farmers with $8 billion in support to offset diesel costs during this harvest season,” Trump said at the Heartland Credit Union Arena. “And Roger Marshall is the leader who fought for that to happen. Roger got it to happen. Good job, Roger.”
How the payments will work
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the program will provide support proportional to modeled losses during the 2026 crop year. Payments will be calculated using planted acres, production-cost estimates, yields and prices, and commodity-specific payment rates for major crops are expected to be released in November. The Farm Service Agency will administer the program, with funding through the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act.
Trump also highlighted a recent executive order waiving the off-road requirement for red-dyed diesel, allowing farmers and truckers to purchase the fuel tax-free.
A familiar playbook before the midterms
Trump compared the new program to the $12 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance program paid out earlier this year and the $28 billion given to farmers in his first administration, including $12 billion before the 2018 midterms.
“I just gave the farmers $12 billion, and in my first term, I gave them $28 billion, if you remember. And that came out of the tariff money from China. China paid it. It was a gift from China,” Trump said.
The USDA said the new program follows $12 billion in bridge payments distributed to more than 560,000 farmers earlier this year and nearly $14 billion in recent Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage payments.
“President Trump is the most pro-farmer president of my lifetime, and he is continuing to put farmers first every day,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. “This $8 billion dollar investment will help bring certainty to our farmers during this harvest so they can continue to feed our nation.”
Trump said more could follow if Republicans prevail in the midterms. “And when the Republicans win, we will pass even more funding for our farmers,” he said, adding that an end to the war in the Middle East would bring fuel prices down: “Even without that, as soon as that war ends, you’re going to see a plunge because there’s so much oil and diesel around.”
Reporting based on coverage by Fox Business.
