NYS to provide farmers with $30 million to offset higher cost of tractors, seeds, fertilizer due to tariffs
Tabbethia Haubold, the owner of Long Island Yarn and Farm in Yaphank, feeds a llama in July 2024. The state’s specialty crop producers can apply for payments of between $1,000 and $25,000 to offset higher costs. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
New York State farmers who’ve been paying more for tractors, fertilizer, seeds and other production supplies because of U.S. tariffs on imported goods have six weeks to apply for a share of $30 million in aid from Albany.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday that applications for the relief initiative — the Agricultural Resiliency Against Tariffs Program — will be accepted until Aug. 11.
She announced the program in January as part of her proposed 2026-27 state budget, and lawmakers agreed, including $30 million in funding in the final $268 billion spending plan.
The aid consists of payments of between $1,000 and $25,000 to specialty crop producers — including winemakers — and aquaculture, dairy and livestock farms, Hochul said on Monday.
The program “will provide much-needed relief to New York’s farmers who feed our communities,” Hochul said in announcing that the application window had opened.
New York appears to be the first state to offer tariff relief to farms.
The payments are meant to compensate for more than a year of higher prices for tractors, trucks and other equipment. Costs rose after President Donald Trump's administration imposed new tariffs on imported steel, aluminum and other metals used to make agricultural equipment.
In February, some of the tariffs were struck down as illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court, but Trump quickly imposed new ones using a 1974 federal law.
Besides tariffs, farmers' bills have risen as the war with Iran decreases the availability of fuel oil and fertilizer.
For example, some farmers have seen their cost of fertilizer rise up to up $20,000 per year, Hochul said. The price of some fertilizers had increased as much as 51 percent for a time, according to some data.
The New York program follows a December announcement by Trump that $12 billion in federal “one-time bridge payments” would go to farms that have been negatively impacted by “temporary market disruptions and increased production costs,” which he blamed on President Joe Biden’s administration.
The federal payments were to be made by Feb. 26 and go to growers of corn, cotton, oats, peanuts wheat, rice and other crops, based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture announcement.
Hochul said the federal aid program “is fundamentally flawed for New York since it leaves specialty crops and the dairy sector with no meaningful support.”
To be eligible for the state relief, farms must have at least two-thirds of their federal gross income in excess of $30,000 derived from agricultural activity, grow eligible crops in the state and provide eligibility and production data that’s certified by a financial professional.
The application and an educational webinar may be found at https://agriculture.ny.gov/agricultural-resiliency-against-tariffs-program.
Austin Weaver, an executive in upstate Watertown for lender Farm Credit East, said the state program would be a boost to the struggling agricultural sector.
“These funds will help offset financial losses in an industry that has been impacted by federal tariff policies,” he said earlier this month after the state budget was adopted.
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
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