"Called the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF), the program will require specialty crop producers to ensure planted acreage reports are "factual and accurate" by March 13, 2026. The USDA is describing the program - which will involve one-time payments based on planted acreage and crop-specific rates - as providing near-term relief for specialty-crop growers dealing with higher input costs and "unfair market disruptions," among other challenges. The agency has not yet issued commodity-specific rates for the payments."
"A politically charged statement from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins emphatically praised U.S. President Donald Trump while saying that "specialty crop producers continue to feel the negative effects of four years under the Biden Administration." The agency did not provide data or evidence to support the claim. The agency did say the ASCF program is designed to provide assistance for more than 100 types of specialty crops and sugar, which were not covered through the previously announced $11 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program, which spanned staple crops such as barley, corn, cotton, soybeans, rice and wheat."
The USDA announced a $1 billion one-time Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) bridge program providing payments based on planted acreage and crop-specific rates. Producers must ensure planted acreage reports are factual and accurate by March 13, 2026, and must update 2025 acreage reports with local FSA offices. Commodity-specific payment rates have not yet been issued. The program targets more than 100 specialty crops and sugar that were excluded from the $11 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance program. Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and California are noted coffee-producing regions facing an estimated 2025-26 downturn in utilized coffee cherry production of about 20%.
Read at Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine
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