Farm organizations appealed Thursday to the Trump administration to propose a new round of assistance for ag producers as part of a defense supplemental request for funding the war with Iran.

The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in funding for the war, according to The Washington Post.

In a letter to President Donald Trump, the farm groups noted that the war followed weather-related problems that have hit specialty crops and other sectors.

“More recently, as planting season began in earnest across much of the U.S., the closure of the Strait of Hormuz sent fuel and fertilizer prices skyrocketing – further straining a farm economy that already had its back against the wall due to record inflation, trade uncertainty, rapidly declining crop prices and catastrophic natural disasters,” the letter says.

“Maritime freight disruptions from the ongoing conflict in Iran pose significant consequences to food security here at home and around the world.”

The letter doesn’t specify how much additional money farmers need, but lawmakers have already been discussing $15 billion in new farm aid to supplement the $12 billion Farmer Bridge Assistance Program that USDA funded through its Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority.

The letter to Trump says, “As the Administration considers what needs to be included in a defense supplemental package in the coming weeks, we urge you to include much-needed market relief for America’s farmers.

The additional aid “should build upon recent efforts by your Administration to deliver Farmer Bridge Assistance Program payments, and should include meaningful support for all specialty crop, sugar and alfalfa growers, as well as provide relief for farmers who sold at harvest time lows due to trade uncertainty, support farmers and ranchers dealing with catastrophic weather events, and build longer-term demand stability for U.S. agriculture through year-round sales of E15 and tax incentives to increase use of domestic agricultural products, such as the Buying American Cotton Act and the Grown in America Act,” the letter says.

The groups that signed the letter represent a wide range of commodities, including specialty crops, as well as organizations such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and the National Farmers Union.

It's not clear how the supplemental spending bill will move through Congress. An emergency spending bill would require support from Democrats to pass the Senate.

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