USDA to make $8 billion in one-time payments to farmers for fuel and input costs; rates due in November

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, that it will make $8 billion available for one-time payments to farmers this harvest season under a new Harvest Fuel Relief Program. The department’s release ties the payments to temporary market disruptions and higher input costs.¹

President Donald Trump announced the program the same day in Park City, Kansas, Reuters reported. He said the money would help farmers “offset diesel costs during this harvest season.”²

What USDA says

The release describes the program as similar to the Farmer Bridge Assistance program. A single formula will cover part of each producer’s modeled losses for the 2026 crop year. USDA will build a national loss average from planted acres reported to the Farm Service Agency, Economic Research Service cost-of-production estimates, and yields and prices from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.¹

Other points in the release:¹

• Payment rates for each Title I commodity will be released in November. USDA will announce later how other eligible commodities will be paid.
• Producers of commodities outside Title I, including specialty crop growers and fishermen, are asked to email fuel cost data to HarvestFuel@usda.gov.
• Producers do not have to be enrolled in crop insurance to qualify. USDA urges them to use risk management tools in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act.
• The payments are authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, and the Farm Service Agency will run the program.
• USDA urges producers to set up a Login.gov account before sign-up opens. Producers whose account is linked to USDA will get pre-filled applications online.

Rollins said in the release that the money “will help bring certainty to our farmers during this harvest.”¹

The release says the Farmer Bridge Assistance program made $12 billion in one-time payments to more than 560,000 farmers earlier this year. It also says producers received nearly $14 billion in gross Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage payments about two weeks before the announcement.¹

Diesel prices and earlier requests

The Energy Information Administration’s weekly survey released Oct. 14 put the U.S. average retail price of on-highway diesel at $6.179 a gallon for the week of Oct. 12. That was $2.514 higher than a year earlier.³ USDA’s release mentions increased fuel costs but does not cite diesel prices.¹

On Oct. 1, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall wrote to Trump asking the administration to temporarily suspend the federal highway diesel tax for agricultural transportation and to waive federal penalties for emergency use of dyed diesel on highways. “Farmers and ranchers cannot postpone harvest or simply stop using diesel when prices rise,” Duvall wrote.⁴ Trump signed an executive order earlier this month that he said would expand access to tax-exempt diesel, Reuters reported.²

What the records do not show

• USDA’s release does not give an application period, payment dates or any per-acre or per-unit rate.
• It does not say how the $8 billion will be divided between Title I commodities and other producers.
• As of Oct. 20, a search of the Federal Register found no notice for the program.⁵