The Devastating Impact of Trump 2.0 on U.S. Farmers

The fallout begins...

Folks, it's taken a few days to trickle down, but I'm seeing post after post after post in the ag community social media channels of massive issues impacting U.S. farmers and the U.S. ag economy from Trump's DOGE efforts, tariff wars and the USAID shutdown.

Here are a few:

Lost Contracts to Canada

Cotton and grain growers are losing contracts to long-time Canadian buyers because, even with the tariff pause, Canadian buyers don't trust the stability of U.S. export commerce with Trump in office. Plus, Canadians are just flat-out pissed and avoiding U.S. made/produced goods, including farm products.

SOURCES: https://x.com/cturnbull1968/status/1886862409798967425

https://www.cbc.ca/.../as-more-people-buy-canadian-these...

Increasing Input Prices

Chuck Grassley, of all people, is pleading with Trump to exempt potash from any Canadian tariffs because U.S. potash (a major fertilizer in agriculture) mainly comes from Canada. Impending tariffs will shoot farmers' fertilizer prices sky-high.

SOURCES:

https://thehill.com/.../5123701-us-imposes-tariffs-on.../

Cancelled Government Grants

Corn and soybean farmers are upset because Trump cancelled all of Biden's Climate Smart grants that were supposed to help them offset their adoption of soil health, improving new practices like no-till and cover cropping.

SOURCES:

https://soygrowers.com/.../soy-growers-urge-climate.../

https://www.bloomberg.com/.../soy-farmers-urge-trump-to...

$2 Billion In Annual Commodity Crop Sales Lost

USAID's cancellation cuts $2 billion straight out of U.S. farmer's pockets from the Food for Peace program which purchased rice, wheat, corn and soy from U.S. farmers and distributed them to hungry nations. In some states and for some crops, USAID was their primary buyer.

SOURCES:

https://www.dtnpf.com/.../02/03/usaid-tie-agriculture-usda

https://www.wbur.org/here.../2025/02/06/usaid-kansas-farmers

https://www.cjonline.com/.../what-does-usaid.../78300587007/

More Promised Grants and Reimbursements Reneged Upon

USDA NRCS is cancelling conservation contracts and leaving farmers holding the bag. These are things like fence improvements and upgraded water lines that boost farmer efficiency while also conserving the environment. Plus, the way they work is the farmer has to do the work first, then once they are done, the NRCS reimburses them. So now farmers that have spent the money to do the work are being told the NRCS won't honor their contracts.

SOURCES:

https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/.../usda-freezes.../

https://sustainableagriculture.net/.../release-unlawful.../

Precious Irrigation Water Wasted

California farmers are PISSED because his "turn on the taps" PR move did nothing to combat California wildfires and instead wasted 2 BILLION gallons of water being held in reservoirs for summer irrigation.

https://www.npr.org/.../farmers-are-worried-after-trump...

https://abc30.com/.../central-california.../15862080/

Jeopardized Export Commodity Crop Purchases

U.S. crop farmers are freaked out over the trade wars since Canada, China and Mexico represent half - let me repeat that again, HALF, of all U.S. agricultural exports!

SOURCES:

https://www.wdam.com/.../trump-tariffs-could-impact.../

https://www.spglobal.com/.../020625-us-farmers-could...

Organic Farmer Funds Frozen

Per Trump's freeze on financial contracts, the USDA is withholding funds for the Organic Market Development Grant program and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program, which typically go directly to organic farmers or to non-profits supporting organic farmers.

SOURCES:

https://www.eenews.net/.../usda-pauses-2-organic.../

New Ag Innovation Programs Shuttered

The shutdown of USAID has been trickling down through multiple ag-focused agencies, including the Soybean Innovation Labs, which were hosted at land-grant universities across the U.S.. These research labs focused on developing new genetics and growing practices in soybeans critical to U.S. and international growers. They had to close the entire program, laying off 30 scientists and researchers in 19 labs across 17 states.

SOURCES:

https://www.linkedin.com/.../peter-goldsmith-66096495...

https://www.linkedin.com/.../nathanfaleide_acting-on...

Sustainable Agriculture Health Research Funds Lost

K State University lost up to $50 million that was pledged through a USAID Program over the next five years to advance research in “sustainable intensification,” an approach focused on increasing crop yields without expanding agricultural land use, expected to directly benefit Kansas (and U.S.) farmers.

SOURCES:

https://thisistopeka.com/.../k-state-losses-50-million.../

Ag Machinery Manufacturers to Lose Export Sales

China's retaliatory tariffs (although not yet on crops, we shall see) are expected to have a major impact on U.S. ag machinery manufacturers, who were already struggling and have had massive lay-offs over the last 12 months. China imported almost $800 million of U.S.-manufactured ag machinery in 2020.

SOURCES:

https://www.manufacturingdive.com/.../china.../739278/

And it goes on and on and on with new, major issues coming to light on a near-hourly basis. My heart hurts for U.S. farmers and U.S. farm communities, large and small, that are needlessly and thoughtlessly being impacted by this.

But hey, on the bright side, Trump banned those infuriating paper straws!