'Shock to the system': farmers hit by Trump's tariffs and cuts say they need another bailout [View all]

[Demovictory9]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/farmers-trump-tariffs-bailout-extreme-weather

‘Shock to the system’: farmers hit by Trump’s tariffs and cuts say they need another bailout
With extreme weather and Trump’s looming trade war, US farmers are reeling and resigned to needing more cash help


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Rural counties rallied behind Trump in 2024, giving him a majority in all but 11 of the 444 farming-dependent counties last year, averaging 78% support, according to analysis by Investigate Midwest.

Trump’s vote share rose among farming communities, despite his last trade war which required a $23bn taxpayer bailout for farmers in 2018-19.

Yet anxiety is mounting among the agricultural base.

First came widespread cuts to oversubscribed and chronically underfunded federal climate and conservation schemes designed to reduce costs and greenhouse gases, and improve yields and environmental health.

Trump is also shuttering local food programs which provide farmers with stable domestic markets like public school districts and food banks, helping make farms more resilient to global economic shocks. The USAID, which purchased about $2bn every year in agricultural products particularly wheat, sorghum and lentils for humanitarian aid programs, has been dismantled.

The loss in federal programs alone would have been tough to cope with, but then came the trade chaos. Trump’s tariff announcements began when most farmers already had spring crops in the ground – or at the very least had prepared the land and purchased inputs such as seeds and pesticides, making it impossible to switch to crops that could potentially find a market domesticall