President Donald Trump announced a Harvest Fuel Relief Program at a rally in Kansas on October 19, under which the Agriculture Department will provide $8 billion in economic aid to farmers hurt by high diesel prices.

The New York Times reports this is the second time in two years that the president authorized billions of dollars in bailout money for farmers harmed by rising fuel prices caused by the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, which has restricted exports of oil products from the Persian Gulf. The move comes as harvest season brings to a peak the need for diesel fuel to run harvesting machinery, and just over two weeks before midterm elections in which farmers and ranchers could be the deciding votes in close races across the country.

Under the plan, the Agriculture Department will apply a formula based on how many acres and which crops farmers planted, in order to reimburse them for a “portion” of their losses. The money will come from a financing instrument that the Agriculture Department uses to fund crop insurance and natural disaster payment programs, known as the Commodity Credit Corporation.

The Times says the payment rates will be announced sometime in November, and farmers will receive money at a later date.

The price of a gallon of diesel has recently risen to $6 or more in most of the country, compared with about $3.50 in fall 2025, straining the pockets of farmers who have already had to pay more for fertilizers, the cost of which is closely tied to the price of fossil fuels used to make them.

Read More: Majority of U.S. Farmers Can’t Afford the Fertilizer They Need

Two weeks earlier, at a rally in Nebraska – also a heavily agricultural state -- Trump issued an executive order temporarily allowing the use of red-dyed diesel on commercial roads, in a bid to mitigate rising diesel costs across the U.S. The dyed diesel is tax-free, and usually therefore illegal to use for any vehicles that operate on public roads, which rely on public funding.

Read More: Trump Temporarily Allows Truckers to Use Dyed Diesel

In May the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that nearly 45 million more people could fall into acute food insecurity or worse if the conflict doesn't end by the middle of the year, and if average oil prices stay above $100 a barrel. That would be in addition to the 318 million people who are already food insecure.