agriculture

'Farmers in the crosshairs': Ex-USDA chief warns Trump tariffs could be 'really hurtful'

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump's newest tariffs are slated to go into effect on various imported goods from multiple countries. But the big question that has yet to be answered is how other countries will respond — and how that response could impact Americans.

During a Monday night interview with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, Tom Vilsack, who was the secretary of agriculture under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, elaborated on how American farmers could be put in a particularly stressful position depending on how the United States' tariffs are received around the world. Vilsack theorized that if countries that purchase American agricultural products want to apply pressure to the Trump administration to reconsider its tariffs, they may consider importing food from elsewhere. And he cautioned that if they did so, it could cause permanent harm to the farming economy.

"Agriculture is one of our principal export opportunities. [Trading partners] recognize the politics of agriculture in the United States. and obviously that puts farmers in the crosshairs," Vilsack said. "Once we lose a market, it's very difficult to get it back."

Collins observed that Trump's new tariffs are more broad than those imposed during his first term in the White House. And she pointed out that Biden preserved some of Trump's tariffs on Chinese products, and allowed new markets to emerge. But when she asked Vilsack if he was optimistic that this new round of tariffs would produce similar results, he was skeptical.

"It's pretty difficult when you're dealing with the quantity and quality of what we export," the former agriculture secretary said. "When 30% or so of soybeans are exported, it's pretty difficult if one of your major customers or several of your major customers decide to look elsewhere."

Vilsack reminded viewers that during Trump's first-term tariffs, Brazil "invested in their infrastructure" and ramped up their soybean exporting capacity to allow the South American nation to serve as an alternative soybean producer to the United States. He further emphasized that if Trump aims to minimize damage to farmers, he should find a way to quickly bargain to bring down any tariffs other countries put in place before major alternative purchasing decisions are made.

"That's why it's really important, i think, for whatever negotiation is going to take place to be relatively quickly, so that if there is retaliation, it's limited, so we don't lose market share," he said. "And so frankly, farmers don't necessarily need as much relief from the government as perhaps they may have to have, if it's a long-term type of situation."

Watch the full segment below, or by clicking this link.

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'Act of God': Trump-supporting farmers reel from funding cuts

The Trump administration has many farmers struggling as they deal with a poor economy and executive orders from the president that freeze needed federal funding, States Newsroom reported Monday. Some of those farmers voted for Trump.

“Even though the administration said it would not stop payments to individuals and courts have ordered the administration to resume the programs, many farmers are awaiting payments on their contracts and have not been told when or if they can expect to receive expected funding. Billions of dollars are at stake,” reporter Allison Winter writes.

For example, Trump voter Skylar Holden had been promised money from the Department of Agriculture to use on his cattle farm in Missouri. But he learned in January that the payments had been frozen.

“I instantly asked … what does that mean for all this money that I just spent, that I’m relying on these funds to come through?” Holden said in a TikTok live on Feb. 13.

He was unsure if he would ever receive the funds. “I guess I have maybe a little bit of hope I will see the funding, but I am not too confident,” Holden said.

“Representatives from farm advocacy groups and cooperatives say they are hearing similar stories from their members, but most are unwilling to speak publicly for fear of retribution. Many large farm organizations backed Trump’s successful presidential campaign,” Winter writes.

Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union, said farmers are left in limbo.

“We continue to hear from family farmers and ranchers about the federal funding freeze, which has created significant uncertainty,” he said. “The interruption in funding raises concerns about whether USDA will disburse already obligated funds to farmers who have existing agreements with the department.”

“The lack of clarity is leaving state and local agencies and partner organizations struggling to interpret and implement federal programs, while farmers are left wondering if they can rely on these programs as they make critical business decisions for the year ahead,” Larew added.

Farmers are also concerned about a freeze on USAID programs. American farmers supply much of the food that gets distributed through the agency’s international aid programs.

The Soybean Innovation Lab at the University of Illinois announced that it will close because of the pause in USAID programs. Professor Peter Goldsmith, the lab’s director, was at a loss.

“Where does the money come from to pay salaries, to pay people, to water the plants, I mean everything?” Goldsmith told . “We’ve run a very tight budget, but I never put into the scenario an act of God like this.”

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30,000 tons of food 'going to waste' in Houston after Trump halted aid

About 30,000 tons of food is stuck at a port in Houston after Trump halted foreign aid for 90 days. The food, intended to feed people overseas, is stalled at a warehouse, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.

The food was being distributed by the Food for Peace program, which is a part of the U.S. Agency for International Development, a part of the government overseeing aid to more than 100 countries that the Trump administration is looking to shut down.

“The food stuck in Houston totaled more than 31,000 tons and was part of more than 500,000 tons of food valued at $450 million now at risk of going to waste,” writes the Chronicle’s James Osborne. USAID food shipments are also being held up in Boston, New York, and Miami, as well as four other ports.

The freeze is hurting American farmers. According to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service, American farms supply about 40 percent of the food that USAID distributes.

"Purchases of commodities from farmers that power Food for Peace have stopped. Hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat are stranded in Houston right now," U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-Ark.). Craig is a ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, told the Chronicle.

"This hostile takeover of USAID is illegal and unacceptable and creates uncertainty and instability for the agricultural economy,” she said.

“You’re talking about a direct impact on American products and American jobs,” George Ingram, a senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution, told the Post.

A White House spokesperson told the Chronicle that the move was "ensuring that taxpayer-funded programs at USAID align with the national interests of the United States, including protecting America’s farmers."

Trump "will cut programs that do not align with the agenda that the American people gave him a mandate to implement and keep programs that put America First," the spokesperson said.

“USAID plays a critical role in reducing hunger around the world while sourcing markets for the surplus foods America’s farmers and ranchers grow,” Dave Salmonsen, senior director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in a statement

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