WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Defend America Action is releasing a new report highlighting the generational crisis facing farmers in America. It shows that Donald Trump’s trade wars have tanked soybean exports, his extreme deportation agenda has gutted farm workforces, and his war in Iran has sent diesel prices up nearly 80% at peak planting season. Farm bankruptcies are up 46%, profits have fallen for Trump’s entire term, and 70% of farmers can’t afford all the fertilizer they need.
Defend America Action also hosted a press call this morning with U.S. Representative Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Wisconsin State Senator Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska), former U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge (D-NC), and Iowa Farmers’ Union President Aaron Lehman to discuss the toll Trump’s policies have taken on America’s farmers and agricultural communities.
“Farmers are hopeful that things will work out, because they always are, but they’re also being squeezed from all sides right now,” said U.S. Representative Angie Craig. “Their markets have been decimated by Trump’s trade wars and retaliatory tariffs. They’re paying through the nose for fertilizer and diesel, thanks to the president’s war in Iran. Our largest agriculture competitors are seizing the markets that US farmers spent decades and billions of dollars to develop, because the White House has blown up trade agreements with our closest allies and chief rivals alike.”
“Farm income is down, farm inputs are up, ends are not being met. Farmers are being squeezed on both sides as a result of this economic policy that’s coming out of the White House,” said Wisconsin State Senator Brad Pfaff. “Farmers are struggling to break even in the crops that they grow. The consumers who go to the grocery store are paying more. How does that work? What kind of economic policy is that, in which farmers can barely break even, but yet we as consumers, we go to the store, we’re seeing prices go up and up?”
“The President is using tariffs as a blunt instrument around the world. Then we get a retaliatory tax against us, which means the farmers are paying both ways,” said former U.S. Representative Bob Etheridge. “They’re paying a tax on the fertilizer, the diesel fuel, and the other stuff they’re buying. And then when they get ready to sell their soybeans, their tobacco, they’re paying a tax on that.”
“Our trade policies are no closer to fair trade for farmers, workers, and consumers. Our international policies have us stuck with high input prices for the foreseeable future, and our county USDA offices can’t respond,” said Iowa Farmers’ Union President Aaron Lehman. “It is harder than ever to find farm labor and agribusiness labor. That’s, unfortunately, been the response, and farmers in our rural communities are feeling the brunt of it.”
A recording of the press call is available here. Defend America Action’s new agriculture report is available here.
