President Trump announced Monday that his administration would distribute $12 billion in one-time payments to farmers, who have suffered from persistently low commodity prices, rising costs and declining sales during friction over trade with China.

While rural areas remain conservative bastions, farmers' patience with Washington is wearing thin. Several of them described the government bailout, an echo of similar policies during Trump's first term, as a welcome stopgap that doesn't do enough to stabilize the agricultural industry.

"It’s a bridge. It’s not the ultimate solution we’re looking for," said Charlie Radman, a fourth-generation farmer who grows corn and soybeans on the land his family has owned near Randolph, Minnesota, since 1899. “What we really want to have is a little more certainty and not have to rely on these ad hoc payments.”

American soybean and sorghum farmers typically export at least half of their crops. They were hit the hardest by Trump’s trade dispute with China, the world's largest buyer of soybeans that has increasingly relied on harvests from Brazil and other South American nations.

“What my reality is, is that while crop prices are depressed, and they’re down about 15-20% for corn and soybeans since 2021, the COVID pandemic, we’re also seeing an inflation in our input costs,” said Radman.

Trump has boasted about his international dealmaking, especially after he sat down with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October.

But so far, China has bought only about a quarter of the 12 million metric tons of soybeans that U.S. officials said would be purchased before the end of February, raising doubts on whether Beijing would follow through on that pledge or commitments to buy 25 million metric tons annually in the next three years.

Even if China does buy the agreed amount of American soybeans, that would only bring U.S. farmers near to the amount they were selling every year before Trump took office.

The $12 billion that he announced this week likely won't quell farmers' fears about the future. They're already ordering supplies for next year’s crops and meeting with their bankers to discuss the loans they will need.

The aid payments will be capped at $155,000 per farmer or entity, and only farms that make less than $900,000 will be eligible. But during the first Trump administration a number of large farms found ways around the payment limits and collected millions.

Farmers would like to see the Trump aggressively tackle concerns about higher costs that are eating into their bottom line.

Despite the trade turbulence, Radman remains optimistic the administration will be able to reopen trade barriers that have raised costs on fertilizer and other inputs.

“There’s a little bit of magic that's involved with the faith that it takes to put a little bit of fertilizer and some seed out there and seeing that grow hopefully your risks pay off and bringing that crop in,” said Radman.