In the news related to dairy farming the second week of December:
- Trump administration announces $12 billion farmer bridge payments
- USDA to expand crop insurance access for farmers
- Wisconsin teamsters authorize strike at Actus Nutrition and Foremost Farms
- Another New World screwworm case detected in northern Mexico
- Tyson Foods to close Nebraska beef plant
Trump administration announces $12 billion farmer bridge payments
President Donald J. Trump announced the USDA will make $12 billion available in one-time bridge payments to American farmers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs still impacting farmers following four years of Biden administration policies.
These bridge payments are intended in part to aid farmers until investments from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), including reference prices which are set to increase between 10% to 21% for major covered commodities such as soybeans, corn and wheat and will reach eligible farmers on Oct. 1, 2026.
Of the $12 billion provided, up to $11 billion will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program, which provides broad relief to U.S. row-crop farmers who produce barley, chickpeas, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame and sunflower. FBA will help address market disruptions, elevated input costs, persistent inflation and market losses from foreign competitors engaging in unfair trade practices that impede exports.
The FBA Program applies simple, proportional support to producers using a uniform formula to cover a portion of modeled losses during the 2025 crop year. This national loss average is based on USDA Farm Service Agency-reported planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production estimates, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates yields and prices, and economic modeling.
Farmers who qualify for the FBA Program can expect payments to be released by Feb. 28. Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by 5 p.m. ET on Dec. 19. Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by the end of the month. Crop insurance linkage will not be required for the FBA Program; however, the USDA strongly urges producers to take advantage of the new OBBBA risk management tools to best protect against price risk and volatility in the future.
The remaining $1 billion of the $12 billion in bridge payments will be reserved for commodities not covered in the FBA Program such as specialty crops and sugar, for example, though details including timelines for those payments are still under development and require additional understanding of market impacts and economic needs.
USDA to expand crop insurance access for farmers
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced major updates to federal crop insurance, reducing red tape for farmers, modernizing long-standing policies and expanding access to critical risk protection beginning with the 2026 crop year. The Expanding Access to Risk Protection (EARP) Final Rule streamlines requirements across multiple crops, responding to producer feedback.
In reducing regulatory burdens, the changes include:
- Removes the “insured” requirement from the “1 in 4” rule for prevented planting payments. Producers must still show the land was planted and harvested (or adjusted for an insurable cause of loss) in one of the previous four years.
- Allows policyholders switching approved insurance providers (AIPs) to submit production reports directly to their new provider, reducing confusion and paperwork.
- Allows insurance under the Dollar Plan for direct-marketed fresh market tomatoes and peppers beginning with the 2027 crop year, reflecting specialty crop business practices in Northeastern states.
- In accordance with Executive Order 14192, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, removes the “automatic nullification” rule and shifts fact-finding authority to the courts, reducing administrative burdens on policyholders and AIPs.
- Removes termination, cancellation and end-of-insurance dates from federal regulations and places them in policy provisions, enabling more flexible, county-level updates.
Additional policy updates include:
- One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) implementation
- Incorporates provisions from Manager’s Bulletin 25-006.
- Extends beginning farmer and rancher eligibility from five to 10 crop years.
- Updates additional premium subsidy rates: 15% (years 1 and 2), 13% (year 3), 11% (year 4) and 10% (years 5 to 10).
- Revenue protection clarifications
- Establishes that harvest prices will equal projected prices when insufficient data prevents use of the approved methodology.
- Creates a reimbursement process for policyholders who paid additional revenue protection premiums in such cases.
The EARP Final Rule became effective Nov. 30 for crops with a contract change date on or after that date (2026 crop year) and for the 2027 crop year as specified. The USDA will accept public comments until Jan. 27.
Producers should contact their local crop insurance agent or visit the Risk Management Agency website for guidance on how these updates may affect coverage options.
Wisconsin teamsters authorize strike at Actus Nutrition and Foremost Farms
More than 150 teamsters at an Actus Nutrition facility and two Foremost Farms plants have overwhelmingly voted to authorize strikes. The workers, represented by Teamsters Local 120, are employed at three locations critical to dairy production and processing in western Wisconsin. Actus currently operates a protein facility in Sparta after purchasing it from Foremost Farms, while Foremost continues to run two cheese processing plants in Richland Center and Lancaster.
Just 30 days before selling the Sparta plant to Actus, Foremost finalized a contract with the teamsters. After acquiring the facility, Actus refused to honor key benefits and worker protections in that agreement. Workers at that site rejected Actus’s “last, best and final offer” and filed a 10-day strike notice over health care, pensions, picket-line protections and maintenance-of-standards language.
While Actus is moving to slash worker benefits and protections, Foremost Farms is pushing for similar reductions at their Richland Center and Lancaster plants. Workers at these locations are concerned Foremost may sell these facilities in the future. Strike notices at both plants have also been filed.
Another New World screwworm case detected in northern Mexico
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed another case of New World screwworm (NWS) in Montemorelos, Nuevo León, Mexico, approximately 120 miles south of the Texas border
It was found in a 22-month-old bovine transported from Veracruz to a feedlot in Nuevo León.
This detection marks the northernmost active case currently found in Mexico. It is also the second detection at the same Nuevo León feedlot since October. No additional cases were linked to the October detection, and both events appear tied to livestock movements from southern Mexico.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller encourages Texas producers to remain watchful for suspicious wounds, unhealed tissue or maggot activity in livestock, wildlife and pets, particularly in locations near the border. Producers who suspect NWS should immediately contact their local veterinarian and state authorities. Early detection, strict livestock movement controls, screwworm fly suppression and rapid response are the best tools to combat this serious threat.
Tyson Foods to close Nebraska beef plant
In late November, Tyson Foods announced that in January it will end operations at its Lexington, Nebraska, beef facility and convert its Amarillo, Texas, beef facility to a single, full-capacity shift.
As U.S. cattle inventories are at historic lows and plants unable to achieve total processing capacity, the company is making these network changes “to right size its beef business.”
The changes affect more than 3,000 employees at the Nebraska facility and about 1,700 workers in Texas.
The Lexington facility has the capacity to process around 5,000 cattle a day. The combined changes are estimated to reduce U.S. beef processing capacity by up to 9%.
The company plans to increase production at other beef facilities to help meet customer demand.
