On National Agriculture Day, here’s a reminder that Donald Trump is ripping away hundreds of millions of dollars from farmers and raising costs — after driving small family-owned farms into bankruptcy during his first term. Instead of working to help support America’s farms, Trump is once again leaving them out to dry. The only people benefiting from Trump’s disastrous agenda are Trump’s billionaire backers — not American farmers. 

While Trump claims to support farmers, his dangerous agenda of mass firings and funding cuts is already threatening farmers’ livelihoods after ripping away hundreds of millions of dollars from American farmers’ pockets.

Washington Post: “Farmers report missing millions of dollars of funding they were promised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, despite promises from the Trump administration that a federal funding freeze would not apply to projects directly benefiting individuals. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ordered the USDA to freeze funds for several programs designated by President Joe Biden’s signature clean-energy and health-care law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.”

Washington Post: “Purchases and shipments of U.S. food aid worth over $340 million — including rice, wheat and soybeans — have been paused during Trump’s foreign-aid freeze, according to officials and an email obtained by The Post. That has left hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat stranded in Houston alone, Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said Tuesday.”

Canary Media: “The Spokane, Washington-based consultancy [Zero Emissions Northwest] has secured $3.7 million in grants from a nearly two-decade-old U.S. Department of Agriculture program meant to help rural businesses save energy and generate their own power. … The projects were expected to save the farmers, communities, and rural small businesses involved more than $20 million in long-term energy costs. But last week, USDA informed Funk that it was freezing all reimbursements from the program.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s unaffordable national tax will further devastate small farmers, forcing them to shoulder costs of Trump’s reckless policies. 

NBC News: “Farmers face steep losses in the middle of Trump’s trade war and funding cuts”

“[F]armers have found themselves caught in the middle of President Donald Trump’s escalation of trade wars and efforts to slash billions of dollars in spending, leaving a growing number now struggling to find markets for their products and facing the risk of steep losses for the year ahead. …

“But farmers across the country — from small organic berry growers in Maine to large-scale hog producers in Iowa — say those policy changes could cripple their businesses if they aren’t resolved soon, wreaking long-lasting damage on the U.S. agriculture industry.” 

Reuters: “US, Canadian farmers face soaring fertilizer prices amid Trump trade war” 

Trump has a long history of failed economic policies that have cost farmers billions of dollars and devastated American family farms, all while bailing out corporate agriculture giants during his first term. 

Associated Press: “Trump farm secretary: No guarantee small farms will survive”

Environmental Working Group: “USDA Bailout for Impact of Trump’s Tariffs Goes to Biggest, Richest Farmers”

“The top one-tenth of recipients received 54 percent of all MFP payments.”

Center For American Progress: “Farmers have lost $8.4 billion in profits due to the Trump administration’s trade policies. As a result, net farm income in 2018 was down 16% from the previous year. The program meant to provide relief to the most affected farmers has largely ignored small and minority-owned farms.

“2. The number of claims of Chapter 12 bankruptcy in the 7th and 8th Circuits, which is available only to farmers and ranchers, has increased 45% since Donald Trump took office. These circuits, which are composed of the breadbasket states Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, are facing unprecedented bankruptcy rates, despite the Trump administration’s farm bailouts. …

“5. Market concentration has shot up across the agricultural sector in recent years, yet one of the USDA’s first acts under the Trump administration was to withdraw Obama-era rules that protected family farmers from unfair and deceptive contracting practices.”