IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

• CRP SIGNUP - Continuous (SAFE Lessor Prairie Chicken and Highly Erodible Land Initiative (HELI) February 12 to March 20 is the end of the first batching period. 
• CRP SIGNUP - General CRP Signup 66 March 9 - April 17
• SDRP - Supplemental Disaster Relief Program – Stage 1 and Stage 2 - application deadline is April 30, 2026
• FBA – Farmers Bridge Assistance - Deadline to submit signed application April 17, 2026.

Farmers Bridge Assistance Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has opened the enrollment period for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) program, providing $11 billion in one-time bridge payments to row crop producers in response to temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs. The FBA enrollment period opened Feb. 23 and closes April 17, 2026.  

These bridge payments are authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and are administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). Bridge payments are intended in part to aid farmers until historic investments from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), including reference prices which are set to increase between 10-21 percent for major covered commodities and will reach eligible farmers after Oct. 1, 2026. 

How to Apply 

Pre-filled applications will be available online to producers with a Login.gov account who timely filed their 2025 crop acreage report for eligible commodities. Producers who have a Login.gov account can access and submit their pre-filled application from fsa.usda.gov/fba. Additionally, producers can also request their pre-filled FBA application from their FSA county office.  

April 17, 2026, is the deadline to submit completed FBA applications. Producers can complete FBA applications online or submit to their FSA county office.  

Login.gov 

Login.gov is the public’s one account for government. Producers can use one account and password for secure, private access to participating government agencies, including FSA.  

To apply for FBA online, producers can start by visiting  fsa.usda.gov/fba to create their Login.gov account. Producers who have an existing Login.gov account, can work with FSA using their existing account.   

With a secure Login.gov account, producers can be amongst the first to apply for FBA allowing them to view, certify, and submit their application as well as track their application and payment status.  

For assistance creating a Login.gov account, visit https://login.gov/help/.   

Eligibility 

The following commodities are eligible for FBA: Barley, Chickpeas, Corn, Cotton, Lentils, Oats, Peanuts, Peas, Rice, Sorghum, Soybeans, Wheat, Canola, Crambe, Flax, Mustard, Rapeseed, Safflower, Sesame, and Sunflower.  

All intended uses for FBA eligible commodities are eligible excluding grazing, experimental, green manure, left standing, or cover crops. Initial acres, double crop acres, and subsequently planted acres, are eligible. Prevent plant acres are not eligible.  

Crop insurance linkage is not required; however, USDA strongly urges producers to take advantage of the new risk management tools provided for in OBBBA to best protect against future price risk and volatility.  

Payment Calculation  

In December, USDA released the payment rates by commodity. FBA payment rates are based on 2025 planted acres, Economic Research Service cost of production, and the World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate Report. 

More information on FBA is available online fsa.usda.gov/fba also at Farmers.gov and as always, producers can also contact their local FSA county office.

REPORT BANKING CHANGES

Farm Service Agency (FSA) program payments are issued electronically into your bank account. In order to receive timely payments, you need to notify your FSA servicing office if you close your account or if your bank information is changed for any reason (such as your financial institution merging or being purchased). Payments can be delayed if FSA is not notified of changes to account and bank routing numbers.

If the bank account was closed due to the death of an individual or dissolution of an entity or partnership before the payment was issued, please notify your local FSA office as soon as possible to claim your payment.

CRP GENERAL SIGNUP

March 9, 2026, FSA will begin accepting offers for General CRP signup 66 through April 17. Currently, continuous signup (explained below) will continue through March 20. Producers interested in submitting an offer need to contact the FSA office. FSA will run a report which will give the producer the maximum rental rate per acre. For new land to be eligible, the land must meet cropping history requirements and eligible producer requirements. Cropping history years are 2012 through 2017. The producer submitting the offer must have operated or owned the land for at least one year by the April 17 date. Land that currently has a tenant or sharecropper must either be afforded the opportunity to participate in the CRP contract or voluntarily release their interest in the CRP offer.

Producers with any expiring contract is eligible to offer land for General CRP. Grassland CRP signup will be announced later this year.

CRP CONTINUOUS SIGNUP 65 SIGNUP ANNOUNCED

Eligible producers who are interested in submitting an offer on eligible land into a CRP continuous conservation practice are encouraged to submit to FSA by March 20, 2026.  The 2018 Farm Bill required that no more than 27 million cropland acres can be enrolled in CRP, nationwide. Current enrollment in CRP is approximately 26.3 million acres.  To ensure the acreage enrolled does not exceed the statutory limitation, submitted CRP offers will be placed into a batch process, with the first batching process ending on March 20, 2026.

Producers with expiring CRP SAFE Lessor Prairie Chicken (SAFE LPC) and Highly Erodible Land Initiative (HELI) contracts will be receiving a letter regarding options for the expiring contract. For land to be offered into SAFE LPC or HELI it must meet certain requirements to be eligible for enrollment.

• SAFE LPC, the land must physically lay in a Lessor Prairie Chicken Area
• HELI must have an erodibility index number greater than 20.

FSA will determine if the land is eligible and for SAFE LPC, NRCS will determine if the land meets feasibility criteria.

Grassland CRP signup dates have not been announced.