CHILE Act of 2026

Emergency aid for specialty crop growers

This bill would create a framework for direct emergency assistance to specialty-crop producers after an adverse event, including economic crises or market disruptions. Payments would equal a producer's prior-year specialty-crop sales (or an average of previous years) multiplied by a payment factor the Agriculture Secretary sets. The bill would appropriate $5 billion for fiscal year 2027, to remain available until expended, to fund these payments. Most producers would face the existing federal per-person payment cap in the Food Security Act of 1985 (as adjusted). An exception would apply when a producer's average gross income is at least 75% from farming, ranching, or silviculture. Those producers would not be subject to that cap and would have a Secretary-set maximum that cannot be less than $900,000 per crop year. The Secretary would administer the program, consider specialty crops' higher value and input costs, and could use Commodity Credit Corporation authority.