By Blake Jackson
University of Missouri specialists have developed online tools to assist farmers in estimating potential payments from the American Relief Act, passed by Congress late last year.
“Economic assistance payments to Missouri crop producers are expected to provide significant liquidity to the local farm sector,” said Alejandro Plastina, director of the MU Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center (RaFF).
The American Relief Act of 2025, which extended the existing farm bill by one year, includes $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers.
This aid aims to help offset economic losses faced by producers due to falling crop prices and rising production costs.
Notably, it is separate from funding allocated for natural disaster-related losses under the same legislation.
Eligible crops for assistance include corn, soybean, wheat, grain sorghum, barley, oats, rice, cotton, and peanuts. However, wool, mohair, and honey are not eligible for payments.
To assist farmers, RaFF and the MU Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute have developed two spreadsheet calculators. These tools estimate per-acre payments for individual farms and provide totals by crop and farm.
For individual farms, use this link: https://mizzou.us/2025EAcalc1, and for multiple farms, use https://mizzou.us/2025EAcalc2. Maps of economic assistance by county and crop for all U.S. states are available at https://mizzou.us/RaFFpb3.
Additionally, there is a resource detailing payment for Missouri crop producers by county and crop at https://mizzou.us/RaFFpb2.
“According to the latest Farm Income Outlook from RaFF, these payments will inject the equivalent of 6% of the projected crop cash receipts for 2025 and 14% of the projected net farm income from all farm-related activities for the same year,” Plastina added.
"However, the geographical distribution of payments will vary substantially across counties, and it is important that crop producers evaluate their own projected payments to plan their cash flow needs accordingly."
RaFF is also collaborating with other land-grant universities, such as Kansas State University, Iowa State University, and the University of Arkansas, to produce state-specific reports, like the one for Missouri.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-shotbydave
Categories: Missouri, Business, Government & Policy