Can Trump deliver a farmer bailout in time?

America’s farmers were having a tough time even before President Donald Trump returned to office. His trade wars have not made it easier for them to do business. The president is promising a bailout, but there are worries the aid may come too late.

“Time is running out” before farmers must make “crucial decisions” for planting season, said Politico. The people who grow America’s food “need to be able to go to their bankers and say that help is on the way,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). The delay has several causes, including the ongoing shutdown. But even if Congress approved the money, “it would likely take months to get money to the farmers who need it most,” said Politico. The uncertainty could show up in the grocery aisles. “We will start to see a spike in food prices” unless bailout funds are approved, said former Agriculture Department official Oscar Gonzales.

What did the commentators say?

Trump’s trade wars have “crushed the farm community,” said Axios. China stopped buying American soybeans entirely, purchasing them instead from Argentina. The president has “hinted at using tariff revenue to fund the bailout,” but it is not clear how or when that might happen. The plan to help farmers is “really quite clever and generous,” said Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

“Hardly any sector has suffered from Trump’s trade wars more than agriculture,” said Froma Harrop at Creators Syndicate. Farmers overwhelmingly backed Trump despite his promises to launch a new round of tariffs in a second term. The result: “Exports to China are down to about zero” for American soybean farmers. The corn, beef and pork sectors have also been hit, even as their cost of doing business has risen. Farmers are “bleeding” but Trump may not care: “He’s a city boy.”

America’s farmers need “immediate assistance,” Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, said in a public letter to Trump. The current crisis deepens longstanding problems: The number of American farms has dropped by 7% since 2017, while the number of farm bankruptcies have risen. Now the fallout from Trump’s trade policies has “wreaked havoc on our markets.” It is not just farmers who are affected. Every failed farm “dramatically impacts the surrounding community and rural economy.” The time to act is now. “Without swift intervention, this trend will only accelerate in the coming years.”

What next?

Farmers waiting for a bailout say it is a “temporary fix,” said Wisconsin Public Radio. “We want markets. Markets are consistent,” said Matt Rehberg, president of the Wisconsin Soybean Association. A sense of pessimism pervades among producers, said WPR: A September survey by the National Corn Growers found nearly half the respondents “believe the U.S. economy is on the brink of a farm crisis,” and two-thirds are “more concerned about their farm’s finances than a year ago.” For now, most are willing to take a government check, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union. That is “better than losing the farm.”