Today! Secretaries Rollins (USDA), Hegseth (State), Bondi (DOJ), Noem (Homeland Security/ICE), and Senior White House Counselor Navarro stood together to PRETEND they care about Farm Security and National Security in a press conference.
A look at the record shows they do NOT CARE about either.
Farmers first? See the result of Trump’s “Tariff War Games”:
- Trump’s increased tariffs blow up farm costs to produce crops:
- Increases in steel and aluminum raise the cost of equipment
- “War games” with friend and neighbor Canada increase the cost of potash, a vital fertilizer.
- Trump’s increased tariffs on international buyers collapse markets:
- USAID, which was once America’s “smiley face,” purchased American-grown food to feed countless places worldwide where hunger exists. Now, USAID is shut down. America no longer aims to fight hunger, and roughly 14 million lives are likely to be lost.
- Asian buyers shun purchasing US crops. They move their purchases to Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Meanwhile, US farmers lose markets, and the United States loses face and respect again.
On a personal note, I was a farmer in Iowa for 17 years. I understand the trials and tribulations of shifting markets, but now I have to ask: Will farmers ever learn?
First came the Freedom to Farm Act, the farm bill pushed by the Farm Bureau, which resulted in hog prices collapsing everywhere. In my home state, it meant that the hog industry—which had been 80% family farm and 20% corporate—flipped, driving family farmers out of business and causing both prices and packing plant demands to be controlled by corporate interests. Some family farmers fought their way back, but at a significant cost and with no full recovery.
Then came Trump’s first term. He played tariff war games then, too. The result was devastating to US farm markets, and over the longer term, Brazil learned to grow soybeans, becoming a competitor to US farmers.
Now, here we are again, farmers fell for Trump’s spin in the election, and Trump is paying them back by targeting farmers with tariffs. What can be done?
One so-called Trump solution announced today concerns foreign ownership of US land. Supposedly, China and others will be prevented. And maybe they will be. But old stories die hard. I remember the 1970s when the National Farmers Organization fought hard to pass a bill protecting Iowa farmland from foreign buyers. We succeeded, but when a farm economic downturn hit again — as seen in the Freedom to Farm Act above — the state legislature repealed the legislation.
The tariffs are hitting farmers hard. It can be expected that bankers will once again force farm sales, and more buyers of American farm land will be needed. Will the prohibitions stick? We can expect to find out.
Of course, in the short term, it is the taxpayers who now come to the fore. See today’s announcements. Emergency money must be sent to farmers to bail them out and keep them in business. Guess who pays?
In summary, 14 million lives lost from starvation, farmers once again partially bailed out by taxpayers, and tariff trade wars everywhere add to a LOSE-LOSE. Previously, 14 million lives saved, stable farm markets, and reliable trade with international buyers added up to be a WIN-WIN for all of us.
Hannah Tremblay & Jessica Kurn, Farm Aid: What do Tariffs Mean to Food and Agriculture?
Jonathan Lambert, Goats and Soda: Study: 14 million lives could be lost due to Trump aid cuts
Sonal Nain, Newsweek: The Surprising Impact of Trump’s Tariffs On American Farmers
Josh Christenson, The New York Post: Trump admin launches National Farm Security Action Plan to protect America’s farmland, food supply from foreign adversaries.
Author Barbara Leach and her family farmed in SW Iowa for 17 years — 1300 laying hens for seven years, 100 head of stock cows, 300 head of fat cattle, and 600 head of farrow-to-finish hogs manually. She later served as a senior-level appointee at USDOT and USDA for two administrations.