Rice, cotton and soybean growers in Southeast Arkansas are in line for a share of a new $8 billion federal program meant to offset high diesel and other harvest costs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday night.
President Donald Trump announced the Harvest Fuel Relief program at a campaign rally in Kansas and in a post on Truth Social. The USDA released the program details in a news release the same night.
The money will go out as one-time payments during the 2026 harvest. The Farm Service Agency will run the program under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, the release said.
How the payments will work
- Formula: One uniform formula will cover part of each producer’s modeled losses for the 2026 crop year. USDA will base it on planted acres reported to the Farm Service Agency, federal cost-of-production estimates, and federal yield and price forecasts.
- Rates: Payment rates for the major program crops, which include rice, cotton, soybeans, corn, wheat, grain sorghum and peanuts, will be released in November. Rates for other crops will come later.
- Crop insurance: Farmers do not need crop insurance to take part.
- Applications: No sign-up date has been set. USDA urges farmers to create a Login.gov account now. Producers who link that account to USDA will get pre-filled applications online.
- Other growers: Specialty crop growers and fishermen can send fuel-cost records to [email protected] for USDA to consider when it sets their rates.
What leaders said
“This $8 billion dollar investment will help bring certainty to our farmers during this harvest so they can continue to feed our nation,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in the release.
Trump credited Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall for the program. In the same post, he said fuel prices will fall once the war with Iran ends, which he predicted will happen quickly. He also said he signed an executive order two weeks ago waiving the off-road requirement for red-dyed diesel.
What it means in Southeast Arkansas
Row-crop farms in Desha, Chicot, Lincoln, Ashley and Drew counties run combines, grain trucks and irrigation pumps on diesel through the fall. Growers around Dumas, McGehee and Lake Village are bringing in this year’s crop after one of the driest years on record in the region, as iSEARK.com reported this month.
Arkansas already lets qualifying farm and forestry vehicles run lower-tax red-dyed diesel on state highways through Oct. 30 under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ emergency order. Read that story here.
The new program follows the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, which USDA says paid $12 billion to more than 560,000 farmers earlier this year. USDA also said nearly $14 billion went out through its Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs two weeks ago. Farmers with questions can contact their county Farm Service Agency office.
Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture news release (Oct. 19); President Donald Trump on Truth Social (Oct. 19).
