10 November 2026, Washington, US: The US Department of Agriculture is moving ahead with its Harvest Fuel Relief Program, an $8 billion package of one-time payments intended to help producers offset elevated diesel fuel prices and other rising input costs tied to the 2026 crop year. The program, funded through the Commodity Credit Corporation and authorized under the CCC Charter Act, will be administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the program in October, saying in a post on social media that the relief would “help bring certainty to our farmers during harvest so they can continue to feed our nation.” Commodity-specific payment rates for Title I program crops are expected to be released this month. For producers growing commodities outside the Title I program, including specialty crops and fishermen, USDA has said a payment methodology will be announced at a later date, and has encouraged those producers to submit fuel-cost data to a dedicated USDA email address in the meantime. Enrollment in federal crop insurance is not required to qualify for a payment.
Payment formula ties to national cost data
Rather than calculating losses farm by farm, USDA is using a uniform, proportional formula that pays producers a share of modeled national losses for the 2026 crop year. That formula draws on FSA-reported planted acreage, cost-of-production estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service, and yield and price data from the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. USDA has not released details on how the formula will be applied to specific crops.
Ahead of a formal application window, which has not yet been announced, USDA is urging eligible producers to set up a Login.gov account linked to their USDA profile, saying pre-filled applications will be made available online once the window opens. Farm groups including the National Farmers Union, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers and the American Farm Bureau Federation have all issued statements welcoming the aid.
The Harvest Fuel Relief Program follows an earlier CCC-funded initiative, the Farmer Bridge Assistance program, which delivered roughly $12 billion in one-time payments to more than 560,000 farmers.
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