A $12 billion aid package for farmers will help North Dakota producers facing challenges this year, according to U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak, both R-ND.

Hoeven, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, joined an agriculture roundtable at the White House with President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Monday, Dec. 8, to announce the aid.

“Between China targeting our producers, rising input costs and other challenges, our producers are really going through a tough stretch. That’s why we’ve been working with the Trump administration to advance agriculture assistance to serve as a bridge to the improvements we made to crop insurance, ARC (Agricultural Risk Coverage) and PLC (Price Loss Coverage) in the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Hoeven said. “This assistance will not only help our producers in the short-term but will ensure they aren’t used as leverage as the administration continues to negotiate for more markets and better long-term trade agreements.”

“This is important news for North Dakota farm families who are struggling with record high input costs, low prices and trade challenges,” Fedorchak said. “Our agriculture community leads our nation in exports and has been the tip of the spear for President Trump’s efforts to correct unfair trade practices. This assistance is critical to help our producers weather these challenges while trade deals are negotiated and enacted.”

Fedorchak noted the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program provides broad relief to 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 sunflowers. Farmers who qualify for the FBA Program can expect payments to be released by Feb. 28.