President Donald Trump's administration is making $8 billion available in one-time payments to farmers facing increased input costs, including diesel prices that were averaging more than $6 per gallon nationally when the program was announced on Monday.
But Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, described the aid as a “Band-Aid response” that would not address what he said were the policy choices driving farmers’ financial problems, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“Farmers never should have been put in this position,” he said. “A Band-Aid response now, two weeks before the election, doesn’t fix the problem.”
The Iowa Farmers Union has endorsed Democratic candidates for the November 3 midterm elections, according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, providing political context for Lehman's criticism of the administration.
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The criticism comes as the administration rolls out its Harvest Fuel Relief program during the fall harvest ahead of the midterms that will determine control of Congress.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said the Harvest Fuel Relief program will make $8 billion available for one-time payments intended to provide relief from temporary market disruptions and increased input costs. The money is authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and will be administered by the Farm Service Agency.
“Today, I am proud to announce alongside President Trump more targeted relief is coming to our farmers through the Harvest Fuel Relief program,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday 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.”
The USDA said the program will offer proportional assistance through a uniform formula covering a portion of modeled losses during the 2026 crop year.
The calculation will use acreage reported to the Farm Service Agency, production-cost estimates from the Economic Research Service and yield and price information from the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
Commodity-specific payment rates for Title I commodities are expected in November, while the methodology for other eligible commodities will be announced later. The USDA had not announced an application opening date or payment schedule as of Tuesday.
The new package follows $12 billion in one-time Farmer Bridge Assistance payments delivered to more than 560,000 farmers earlier this year, according to the USDA.
Diesel costs have risen across the globe since the Iran War began on February 28, with national prices still above $6 a gallon.
“By the end of the day, farmers, truckers, construction workers, and beyond will have spent ~$55 billion more on diesel since March 1,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on X on Tuesday.
He identified Texas, Iowa, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Missouri and Indiana, in that order, as the leading farming and diesel-consuming states, suggesting that farmers in those states could see much of the impact from the relief.
Newsweek reached out to farmers unions in multiple states by email Tuesday for comment.
Why It May Be Too Little, Too Late
Farm organizations have welcomed the additional assistance while arguing that one-time payments will not provide the long-term stability producers need.
Lehman said the plan will not fix problems he attributed to trade and military conflicts that have put farmers “on the front line of the consequences of those policy choices.”
“We need genuine efforts to help farmers now while fixing the real causes of our current situation,” Lehman said in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday. “We need to conclude the war without sacrificing our farmers’ bottom lines. We need to end the monopoly stranglehold on agricultural inputs. We need to become more energy independent by developing sustainable domestic alternatives.”
Lehman separately argued that farmers needed assistance months earlier and blamed policies pursued by the Trump administration, the USDA and congressional Republicans for higher diesel and fertilizer prices.
Mark Williams, a master lecturer in finance at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, similarly told Newsweek that the program does not address the international energy disruptions he believes are driving farmers’ costs higher.
“The Trump administration’s $8 billion farm subsidy is a mere drop in the bucket that fails to resolve the critical Strait of Hormuz choke point, leaving global fuel costs, fertilizer prices, and projected inflation higher for longer,” Williams said in an emailed statement. “Tossing a multibillion-dollar check to U.S. farmers cannot solve this year's near-doubling of diesel prices or the skyrocketing cost of fertilizer.”
Williams argued that lasting relief would require addressing the war with Iran and developing an energy policy that provides a stable and dependable supply chain.
“These root causes of historic high diesel prices cannot be mollified through a rushed assistance program,” he said. “Lasting relief requires ending the conflict with Iran and creating a comprehensive energy policy that locks in a stable and dependable supply chain.”
Williams also said the program lacked details and argued that it could favor large corporate operations over small family farms. He predicted that implementation could overwhelm federal agencies, create bottlenecks and delay payments.
Those conclusions are Williams' assessment and are not established by the USDA’s published program description. The department said that payments will be proportional and based on a uniform formula, but it has not yet released all payment rates, eligibility methodologies or the payment schedule.
Williams also argued that financing the package through tax revenue or government debt could contribute to inflation, although he did not provide an estimate of the potential effect.
Other farm leaders have raised similar concerns about relying on temporary assistance.
National Farmers Union President Rob Larew said the aid would be “helpful for some farmers” but warned that “one-time payments can’t provide the stability they need to plan for the future,” the Iowa Capital Dispatch reported.
National Corn Growers Association President Matt Frostic welcomed the administration’s recognition of higher input costs but called for “durable, bipartisan, long-term solutions,” according to the outlet. He cited year-round nationwide E15 sales, renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement and passage of a farm bill among the measures his organization supports.
The national average price of diesel stood at about $6.32 per gallon on October 20, up from roughly $3.62 a year earlier, according to AAA.
In Iowa, diesel averaged about $6.16 per gallon, compared with approximately $3.42 a year earlier, an increase of roughly 80 percent.
The USDA forecast that total farm-production expenses will climb by $21.2 billion, or 4.5 percent, to $492.8 billion in 2026. Higher spending on fertilizer, fuel and livestock-related purchases is expected to account for much of the increase.
Farm fuel and oil expenses are forecast to increase by 28.8 percent from 2025, according to the USDA’s September outlook.
Funding Comes Amid Midterm Blitz
Trump announced the program on Monday at a campaign rally in Park City, Kansas, while supporting Republican Senator Roger Marshall, whose reelection race is rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report.
The Cook Political Report said a stronger-than-expected challenge from Democrat Adam Hamilton, shifting political conditions and declining support for Trump tied partly to agricultural concerns over fuel and fertilizer costs have made the Kansas race more competitive.
“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,” said Trump, who then connected the prospect of additional aid after the election. “When Republicans win, we will pass even more funding for our farmers. We love our farmers.”
The $8 billion package arrives as the administration faces pressure from farmers struggling with higher operating costs and as Republicans seek to retain support in states where agricultural concerns have become part of the midterm debate. Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress heading into the elections.
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Hollie Silverman and Dave Siminoff.