Common knowledge that our farmers have been struggling and losing the battle thanks to the ill-conceived tariffs….and now Clueless Leader has decided to do something….

President Trump announced a $12 billion bailout for US farmers on Monday, aiming to soften the blow from his own tariffs and a tough year in agriculture. The relief includes $11 billion in direct payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, with another $1 billion set aside for other commodities, the Wall Street Journal reports. Soybean farmers, hit hardest by collapsing prices and the loss of China as a top customer, are expected to benefit the most. Trump announced the aid plan at a White House roundtable Monday, saying it would be funded by tariff revenue, the AP reports.

Farm bankruptcies are up 60% this year, with the cost of goods including fertilizer rising and crop prices low after a record harvest. The aid, set to roll out at the end of February, drew praise from major farm groups. The American Soybean Association lamented 2025’s combination of bad prices, high costs, and lost markets. At Monday’s event, Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pointed fingers at foreign-owned agribusinesses for driving up costs.

Soybean exports to China, which once bought nearly a quarter of all US beans, dropped to zero after Trump’s tariffs, though purchases resumed after a deal at the end of October. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, he announced $12 billion in aid to farmers during a trade dispute with China. The total compensation for lost farm business due to tariffs during his first term was around $23 billion, the Journal reports.

As in 2018, farmers say they appreciate the help but would rather make money from selling crops than government payments, the AP reports. “I think we need to be looking for some avenues to find other funding opportunities and we need to get our markets going. That’s where we want to be able to make a living from,” says Kentucky farmer Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association. Asked Monday if there would be more aid packages, Trump said it would depend on market conditions, the BBC reports. “The farmers don’t want aid,” he said. “They want to have a level playing field.”

This will be a welcome relief but will not solve the problem just delay the inevitable.

How much if this aid will go to agri-business giants?

Let’s be honest these lame tariffs are causing much of the problems…..

Democratic US Sen. Ron Wyden was among those who emphasized Monday that President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policies have helped create the very conditions the White House is now citing to justify its new $12 billion relief plan for American farmers.

“Instead of proposing government handouts, Donald Trump should end his destructive tariff spree so American farmers can compete and win on a level playing field,” said Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee. “Donald Trump’s trade war is taxing families, killing markets for our farm goods, and driving farmers into bankruptcy.”

“Trump’s plan to bail out farmers won’t even get agriculture communities back to even,” the senator added. “They’re still paying more for fertilizer, equipment, and seeds, while grown-in-the-USA farm goods are facing more obstacles than ever in foreign markets. Don’t forget that all of this trade destruction and taxing was to raise money for Trump’s massive handouts to billionaires and the ultra-wealthy.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-farmer-bailout

His plan will not solve the problem as I have stated…..his plan is to throw money at the problem he created with the hope that some good can be rescued from the action.

BTW, prices will not go down because of this so-called ‘plan’….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”