<scp>US</scp> Farm Bill in 2025: <i>Ad Hoc</i> Assistance becomes an Expanded Multi‐Year Safety Net

Summary The 2025 US farm bill converts ad hoc farm assistance since 2018 into a projected US$ 62 billion farm safety net expansion within multi‐year legislation. Usually stand‐alone with strong bipartisan support, the 2025 edition is largely provisions in a far‐reaching, partisan budget law. The farm safety net is expanded by cutting food assistance to low‐income Americans. Increased expenditures arise mainly from double‐digit percentage higher reference prices projected to trigger payments under the PLC (Price Loss Coverage) commodity program. High crop costs of production and general inflation were argued as justifications. The increase in projected commodity program spending restores countercyclical support during periods of low market returns as a key component of the US crop safety net. New commodity program base acres will be added. Premium subsidies for insurance have monetised US farm risk into a multi‐billion‐dollar farm income flow that will increase since subsidies were raised for most field crop insurance products. Even with the much higher projected safety net spending for 2025 crops, additional ad hoc assistance was provided. Should ad hoc assistance continue for the 2026 crops and beyond, it will signal that influential policy makers consider the expanded multi‐year farm safety net inadequate.