WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Billions of dollars in federal aid is heading to farmers across the country including farmers right here in Texas.
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President Donald Trump plans to provide $12 billion dollars to U.S. farmers and those dollars are coming from funds collected by tariffs, the President said earlier this week.
“It’s called a bridge. It’s to get them in good enough shape from everything that’s happened this past year so that they’ll be able to get financed and plant in the Spring," said Texas AG Commissioner Sid Miller.
“I think Soy bean farmers had the most win out of this," Miller said.
This amid a nose dive in the U.S. AG industry over the last year in the wake of a trade war between the U.S. and and other countries especially China.
In recent years, the USDA highlights a decline in how many soy beans China has bought from the United States.
However, optimism is on the horizon as the White House and China last month came to a "rebalancing" of trade.
“We’re seeing all of those commodity prices having upward movement, getting up close to the profitability column," Miller added.
"$11 billion will go to American row crop farmers who produce crops like rice, soy beans, corn and wheat while $1 billion will go towards specialty crop farmers who produce crops like fruits, vegetables and tree nuts," Miller said.
“We have to keep a floor under our farmers because we certainly don’t wanna be dependent on a foreign nation to feed us, which is what we’re doing now. First time in our life time we're in an agriculture trade deficit of $50-billion dollars. We’re buying more food than we’re selling so we’ve got to turn this around," Miller added.
Miller said it’s unknown right now exactly how much money Texas will get from that $12 billion, but said the amounts will be based on how many acres a farmer has.
The Trump administration said the money would be paid by Feb. 28, 2026 and that farmers would find out by the end of the month how much will be in those one time payments.
You can read more on the topic from the USDA.
“What is your message now to Texas farmers now that that announcement has come out?” 25 News' Bobby Poitevint asked.
"Get ready for good times. They’re just ahead and we know this for a fact. This is a mirror image during Donald Trump’s first term" — “Good times ahead,” Miller replied.
As we and Texas farmers await more information on those payment amounts, we’ll check back in on this story with Commissioner Miller in the coming weeks.
