Trump administration plans to distribute farmer aid amid shutdown

By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The administration of President Donald Trump is planning to distribute billions in aid for farmers and reopen some activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture amid the ongoing federal shutdown, the agency said on Tuesday.

The administration was expected in early October to announce an aid package to bail out farmers hurt by trade disputes and big harvests, but Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins later said it would be delayed until after the end of the shutdown.

"Thursday, USDA will resume Farm Service Agency core operations, including critical services for farm loan processing, ARC/PLC (commodity) payments, and other programs," said Rollins in a post on X.

A USDA spokesperson said the action would include releasing billions in farmer assistance.

The aid will amount to more than $3 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The money will come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a financing mechanism at the USDA that the first Trump administration used to give farmers more than $23 billion in trade aid, according to the WSJ report.

The USDA spokesperson did not respond to questions about the amount of the aid or how it will be funded.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nia Williams)