(NAFB) House Agriculture Committee Democrats are pushing back against White House policies that they say are hurting U.S. agriculture. Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-MN) said farmers are normally a resilient bunch, but they’re struggling.
“The farmers are hopeful that things will work out, because they always are, but they’re also being squeezed from all sides right now. 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, like Brazil and Argentina, are seizing the markets that U.S. 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.”
Farmers are going bankrupt in rising numbers.
“Farm bankruptcies are up 70 percent this year in the Midwest, and almost 50 percent across the country, and that’s just Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The United States lost over 15,000 farms last year. Beyond farm and trade policy, it sometimes feels like the President is determined to undermine America’s farm families.”
Cutting food assistance doesn’t just hurt people shopping in grocery stores.
“He’s cut food assistance by $187 billion with the so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill, making it harder for Americans to afford the food our farmers grow, and don’t forget this is the supply chain. Cutting SNAP by that much also cuts about $25 billion in direct revenue to our family farmers.”
