While farming associations and officials applauded President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this week to provide $12 billion in aid to farmers struggling under his far-reaching tariff policies, some Illinois farmers say more needs to be done.
“It was all over TV on those news channels, it was everywhere,” said Ben Curtin, 73, a corn and soybean farmer in Taylorville. “I was glad that they’re going to do something, but nothing’s going to make up for them killing the Chinese market.”
The soybean industry has been hit hard, especially in Illinois, the No. 1 soybean producer in the country. Last year, the state exported more than $1.4 billion worth of soybeans to China, the world’s largest buyer, according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
The aid package, unveiled during a White House roundtable Monday afternoon, marks one of the administration’s latest moves to bring some stability to a farming industry increasingly beset by lower crop prices and lost export markets. A combination of the country’s trade wars and rising costs has led to projections of billions in losses for growers this year.
Of the total aid package, $11 billion will be used for one-time payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program to row crop farmers, who grow soybeans, corn and wheat, among others. Those payments are expected to be released by Feb. 28, 2026.
The other $1 billion will be spent on commodities that are not covered by the program, including specialty crops and sugar, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.
But farmers across Illinois say they need trade over aid.
“We think it’s a positive first step,” said Scott Gaffner, a soybean farmer in Greenville. “What I think everybody needs to also understand is there’s been a lot of losses incurred to farmers … But ultimately, remember, our goal is not to have financial assistance through the government. Our goal is to have fair trade opportunities with our buyers.”
Soybeans, corn and other major crop industries in Illinois have struggled from other pressures too. American farmers have had to increasingly contend with South American markets, while they face growing costs from fertilizers and equipment, squeezing their bottom lines.
Soybean seeds in the hopper of a no-till drill in south suburban Manhattan on April 24, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)
Meanwhile, farming associations praised the Trump administration’s decision to take the edge off losses incurred by farmers. “While we await additional details, we believe the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is a positive first step to restore certainty as soybean farmers market this year’s crop and plan for the 2026 planting season,” the American Soybean Association said in a statement.
Monday’s announcement was also quickly lauded by some state lawmakers.
“President Trump’s announcement (Monday) of $12 billion in one-time bridge payments to support America’s farmers is welcome news for Southern Illinois,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, six-term congressman from Murphysboro, said in a statement.
The Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods saw Beijing cut all its imports of U.S. soybeans from May until an agreement was reached in October to restore a fraction of those purchases.
The trade deal reached by the Trump administration with Beijing required the country to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans before the end of the year. But reports say that the USDA on Dec. 5 confirmed that only about 2.25 million tons of soybeans have been purchased.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also announced the year-end deadline for the trade agreement has been extended until the end of February, a decision that has stoked more unease in the farming community.
“ There’s so much smoke and mirrors going on that it’s extremely frustrating,” Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II told the Tribune. ”Farmers are being crushed. You’ve got a number of farmers that have had to sell into very depressed commodity markets. You’ve got other farmers who are storing grain, hoping to see some price recovery.”
In its first term, the Trump administration similarly implemented a bailout program known as the Market Facilitation Program, a USDA program that provided direct payments to farmers who had been hurt by the trade war.
Federal assistance for farmers at the time of Trump’s first trade war reached around $23.1 billion, about twice the amount of Monday’s aid package. The original bailout program received criticism for not evenly distributing its assistance to farmers who had been hurt the most.
“While we await additional details to assess the impact that the farmer bridge assistance program will have on corn growers, we also need immediate market-based solutions,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. In search of more long-term solutions, the soybean and corn farming industries have shifted some of their attention to more biofuel production to expand their markets.
After Monday’s announcement, though, farmers across the state, including John Bartman, a soybean farmer in Marengo, hope that more can be done to save their livelihood.
“Agriculture is still the No. 1 industry in Illinois,” Bartman said. “I see what’s happening. And there are a lot of really good farmers out there who are also frustrated by this whole situation because they don’t understand what’s happening.”
Jerry Wu is a freelancer.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/illinois-farmers-trump-aid-soybeans/
