Farmers under Trump

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work for farmers. At least for mine it’s not immigration - most use immigrant labor and need it.

They just like Trump’s vibe and his anti regulation approach (as they have to deal with tons of regulations) and probably also some of voting against the “DEI” / liberal social policy stuff. Also generally they default to Republican so it would take something catastrophic to make them vote D for president normally.

- Harris voter.

Yet they’ll be first in line for handouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Higher energy costs under Biden, leading to inflation in food prices.

Also, farmers would be aware of how adherents of global warming religion wanted to cut back on fertilizer. This led to revolutions in other countries.

WTF are you talking about? Farmers are very concerned about global warming, whether they are Trump supporters or not: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-administration-funding-freeze-farmers-lawsuit-climate-grants-2051805

[Anonymous]

Farmers vote republican and they always get $$$$$$$ in exchange. They always FA and never FO because they get a shower of money. They are already with their hands out and Trump has already said he will give them billions. Some in my extended family are paid every year not to farm their land, they have office jobs and get taxpayer money as well. They are a large voting block in midwestern states and the GOP will keep them happy no matter what the cost. No Doge for them you can count on it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://modernfarmer.com/2024/08/what-a-trump-or-harris-presidency-will-mean-for-farmers-and-eaters/

Whoever this Kathleen Wilcox is, she wrote a well written article dated August 2024, that was ignored by most farmers. She called pretty much everything. I think right wing radio convinced these farmers to hang themselves.

Last time Trump transfer a boatload of money to the farmers. He will do the same now. Many of the farmers will get paid for doing nothing.

Most of that money went to big commercial agriculture, not family farms. And farmers are not lazy. They would rather sell their crops, make capital investments, and be able to plan. Not get jerked around by tariffs and sit on unsold crops. I agree that a bailout is likely, but i hope farmers realize that they are not valued by this administration and vote for a change.

Farmers are welfare kings and queens of America. They are socialist and totally dependent on government handouts. Hope they go broke and billionaire banks take their farms.

[Anonymous]

Not all farmers get handouts

[Anonymous]

Farmers get massive subsidies whether they grow crops or not. They get all the benefits of public subsidies, and yet they always vote for Republicans who seek to inflict pain on the working and middle class. Less than one percent of Americans are farmers. But they have a completely disproportionate impact on politics and have successfully been able to vacuum billions of taxpayer money for their own enrichment. Some even live in Beverley Hills like the pistachio farmers in California. It'd be far more efficient if we embraced large well-regulated corporate farms and stopped subsidizing so many parasitic right-wing millionaire farmers.

[Anonymous]

I think the hunger for land is too great this time. Trump will sacrifice some of the farmers. Probably in a very strategic manner.

Of course someone else writes the plan for him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the hunger for land is too great this time. Trump will sacrifice some of the farmers. Probably in a very strategic manner.

Of course someone else writes the plan for him.

Well Vance is an investor in a real estate investment company called Acretrader that allows financiers to invest in valuable farmland so…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Excellent article. My suspicion is that the immigration issue (and covert racism viz the 'take America back' signs) is what drove farmers to vote Trump. But as the article points out, they, the farmers, depend on undocumented immigrants and they hire undocumented immigrants. And their farms would go broke without undocumented immigrants. Those farmers tgat voted for Trump are seriously stupid and deserve to lose their business.

Excerpt:
"Labor costs currently comprise about 15 percent of a farmer’s costs, and that number is on the rise, according to the USDA. Almost half of the labor force on farms is undocumented. If many of those workers are deported, without a ready and willing supply of hands, the price of food will likely continue to surge."

I think this really depends. I'd like to see a breakdown of immigrant labor related to ag. There are huge swaths of the country (think wheat, corn, soybeans) where minimal hired labor is used and in fact POC are barely visible. Case in point: I went to my niece's h.s. graduation in the upper midwest (town of 300, consolidated rural h.s.) and for the first time ever saw black people in that town, because a single graduate is biracial. At one time row crops--specifically sugar beets--used migrant labor from Texas but that was all mechanized by the 1980s. But these people all vote Trump heavily. The Congressional district was blue dog dem for decades and went GOP around 5-6 years ago. They aren't encountering trans kids in school, let alone school sports.

I would take issue with the claim they got paid in connection with the first term tariffs for "doing nothing." Hardly. They put in crops, they harvested crops, and China quit buying soybeans. Huge surge in farm bankruptcies. That's like saying UI benefits are paid for doing nothing. The closest thing we have for that is conservation reserve, which was part of the soil bank program that started in the 1950s--a part intended to protect erodible soils but also does support farm prices by reducing acreage. I have about 40 acres in CRP. I get paid total about $2000/yr. To get that it had to be planted in native grass seed and it has to be mowed to deter growth of brush and noxious weeds. Mowing has to be done at specific times so as not to disturb nesting birds. I got partial reimbursement for the planting (which included cultivation for seedbed prep and hiring someone using a specialized seed drill) and get nothing for the mowing.

If the maintenance wasn't done, within 10 years the land would be overtaken by aspen, willow, and other brush. The CRP program maintains it as native grass meadow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the hunger for land is too great this time. Trump will sacrifice some of the farmers. Probably in a very strategic manner.

Of course someone else writes the plan for him.

Well Vance is an investor in a real estate investment company called Acretrader that allows financiers to invest in valuable farmland so…

I think Acretrader had some connection with California ag land that was being sold to the Chinese, might have been stopped due to concerns about security due to nearby air base. This situation has come up near other air bases as well.

[Anonymous]

It would be really unfair to send more farm subsidies when everyone else will be paying more due to tariffs. Of course that probably means they will do it.

Farmers are the welfare queens of this country, nobody gets more while at the same time breaking the law by hiring illegals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump has already said he was willing to give govt subsidies to American farmers hurt by the tariffs. We’ll see if he keeps his word.

But either way, the cost to the American taxpayers of his poorly thought out tariffs keeps increasing.

So: Lose - Lose for consumers. First our tax dollars are being used for subsidies that wouldn’t be necessary without Trump’s tariffs, and then again when prices of both domestic and imported products go up.

I can’t do the calculations myself, but it would be interesting to better understand the impacts of unnecessary subsidies. Something like: Are the subsidies for soybeans enough to fund all of the Head Start programs in America?