Trump Is Abandoning Family Farms. Will Family Farmers Abandon Trump?

Trump doesn't own a dog; he doesn't understand that relationship. In fact, he hates animals. And he laughs at farmers-- even if was, after all, rural counties that made him president. The AP reported that on Tuesday Trump's Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, a longtime wealthy exploiter of family farmers, went to a town hall type of event at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin where he told reporters that the government isn't interested in propping up small family famers any longer. "In America," he said, "the big get bigger and the small go out. I don't think in America we, for any small business, we have a guaranteed income or guaranteed profitability."

Perdue's visit comes as Wisconsin dairy farmers are wrestling with a host of problems, including declining milk prices, rising suicide rates, the transition to larger farms with hundreds or thousands of animals and Trump's international trade wars.

Wisconsin, which touts itself as America's Dairyland on its license plates, has lost 551 dairy farms in 2019 after losing 638 in 2018 and 465 in 2017, according to data from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The Legislature's finance committee voted unanimously last month to spend an additional $200,000 to help struggling farmers deal with depression and mental health problems.

Jerry Volenec, a fifth generation Wisconsin dairy farmer with 330 cows, left the Perdue event feeling discouraged about his future.

"What I heard today from the secretary of agriculture is there's no place for me," Volenec told reporters. "Can I get some support from my state and federal government? I feel like we're a benefit to society."

Getting bigger at the expense of smaller operations like his is "not a good way to go," said Darin Von Ruden, president of Wisconsin Farmers Union and a third generation dairy farmer who runs a 50-cow organic farm.

"Do we want one corporation owning all the food in our country?" he said to reporters.

Perdue said he believes the 2018 farm bill should help farmers stay afloat. The bill reauthorizes agriculture and conservation programs at a rough cost of $400 billion over five years or $867 billion over 10 years. But he warned that small farms will still struggle to compete.

"It's very difficult on an economy of scale with the capital needs and all the environmental regulations and everything else today to survive milking 40, 50, or 60 or even 100 cows," he said.

Perdue held a town hall meeting with farmers and agricultural groups to kick off the expo. The former Georgia governor seemed to charm the crowd with his southern accent and jokes about getting swiped in the face by a cow's tail.

Jeff Lyon, general manager for FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative in Madison, asked Perdue for his thoughts on Trump's trade war with China.

Trump's administration has long accused China of unfair trade practices and has imposed escalating rounds of tariffs on Chinese imports to press for concessions. The administration alleges that Beijing steals and forces foreign companies to hand over trade secrets, unfairly subsidizes Chinese companies and engages in cyber-theft of intellectual property. China's countermoves have been especially hard on American farmers because they target U.S. agricultural exports.

According to a September analysis by the U.S. Dairy Export Council, U.S. dairy solids exports to China fell by 43 percent overall in the 11 months starting in July 2018, when China enacted the first round of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. dairy products. About 3.7 billion pounds of U.S. farmers' milk had to find other markets during that span, the analysis found.

Chinese leaders have said they're ready to talk but will take whatever steps are necessary to protect their rights.

Perdue responded to Lyon's question by calling the Chinese "cheaters."

"They toyed us into being more dependent on their markets than them on us. That's what the problem has been," he said. "They can't expect to come into our country freely and fairly without opening up their markets."

The secretary said the Trump administration is working to expand other international markets, including targeting India, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and Malaysia. He said he had expected Congress to ratify a new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada to replace NAFTA but noted that Washington has been distracted over the last few days, an allusion to impeachment proceedings against Trump ramping up last week.

I asked some of the Blue America-endorsed candidates in districts with big rural constituencies how this kind of thinking plays out. We've been discussing this with North Carolina progressive pastor and candidate (NC-02) Jason Butler all cycle. This morning he reiterated what he's been campaigning on. "Alas, the Republican policy is revealed: push out the small business farmer and support big corporations. Counter to their 'small government' rhetoric this is their policy as they are beholden to big donors, big corporations, and big special interests. Nearly every Saturday I go out to local farmers markets in my district and I see small farm after small farm creating entrepenurial farm to table business models that are helping to meet the demands of our growing families. Farmers are the backbone of our nation and we need to create policies that support both big and small farmers. No Mr. Perdue, you are wrong. This is America and there is a future for everyone here and we will work to reverse your damaging ego-driven trade policies to ensure a flourishing future for every farmer-- no matter how big or small.

Maggie Toulouse Oliver is running for the Senate in a largely rural state, New Mexico. "The Trump Administration," she told me, "is giving up on family farmers. That's not acceptable. Cattle, pecans, green chile-- you name it, we've got a family in New Mexico working the land to raise it or grow it to put food on other people's tables. Family farms are a key part of New Mexico's heritage and economy. You better believe that when I'm in the Senate, I will fight to help New Mexico farmers and ranchers."

J.D. Scholten is running for Congress in Iowa's most rural district, Steve King's beleaguered IA-04. The district is 75% rural and gave Trump a 60.9% to 33.5% win over Hillary. The soy bean farmers in his district know better than anyone that Trump has destroyed the soy bean market forever and that it's never coming back. They voted for Trump and he ruined their lives.

J.D. told us that "King has left behind the renewable fuel folks for years. It didn’t shock anyone when he endorsed one of the biggest anti-ethanol folks in D.C., Ted Cruz, for president in 2016. The corn growers and the renewable fuels industry are looking for solutions and leaders. If we are going to get carbon-neutral or decarbon, renewable fuels are a part of that equation. But instead, Trump’s EPA is rewarding oil giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron with RFS waivers, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars while corn growers and folks who work in the renewable fuels industry are struggling just to get by. Trump and his cronies like King will keep lining the wallets of the oil industry at the expense of our farmers." Yesterday, after Perdue's bone-headed remarks, J.D. put out a press release with a sharp title: "Secretary Perdue's Comments Are 'Middle Finger' To Family Farmers." He said that "Dairy farmers across the country have been struggling. For Secretary Perdue to say that there’s ‘no guarantee’ that small dairy farms will survive is essentially giving the middle finger to family farmers. In reality, it’s policy that dictates their survival. If we continue allowing agriculture monopolies to dictate the markets, we will continue down this dangerous path of consolidation. If we enforce our antitrust laws, we will give farmers a chance."

Progressive activist Kathy Ellis is taking Trump lapdog Jason Smith on this cycle and she told me that "In the past year, Missouri has seen a 96% increase in farm bankruptcies. Our local economy is suffering in the 8th District, and while Jason Smith visits farmers and takes pictures on his 'farm tour,' he isn't working towards any real, sustainable solutions for our agricultural economy. Perhaps Rep. Smith could have less photo opps and instead ask farmers what they'd like to see change in the district. They know best, and Smith has continually ignored them to instead be a rubber stamp for Trump's damaging policies. Farmers are forced to choose between continuing in the work that they love and providing for their families. All of this, combined with Big Agriculture taking over many of the once local-run farms, has hurt our local economy. While many farmers supported Trump in 2016, many are now telling us that Trump's policies are hurting them. Many are losing hope."

Nate McMurray is the progressive Democrat running in the big rural/suburban district in western New York where Trump's best friend in Congress, Chris Collins just resigned and plead guilty to being a slimy swamp creature. Nate noted today that "Trump is killing the very places that voted for him. The people of NY27 trusted him, and he’s taken that trust and used it on trade wars and a failed immigration policy that hurts our farmers. We are in an emergency situation."

Teresa Tomlinson, until very recently the mayor of Macon, is very aware of the Perdue family. She's running for the Georgia U.S. Senate seat held by the other one, David Perdue. She noted that Sonny's "recent comments make clear what we already knew: Trump and his administration don’t give a rip about family farms and the critical role they play in feeding America and the entire world. After DC dysfunction prevented Hurricane Michael disaster relief aid from reaching those hardest hit by the storm for more than 200 days, Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue literally added insult to injury when he called family farmers whiners and made clear the Trump administration has no intention of helping to level the playing field for family farmers when corporate Agribusiness continues to gobble up more and more of the market and push out multi-generational family farms."

Audrey Denney's opponent is Trump enabler Doug LaMalfa in the northeast corner of California, one of the most rural districts in California. She told us that "the Trump Administration policies are directly hurting farmers all over the country. According to the American Farm Bureau, farm bankruptcy filings for 2019 through June were up 13 percent from 2018 and loan delinquency rates are on the rise. North State farmers are asking for trade policies that expand markets and immigration reform that helps them get the labor they need. Congressman LaMalfa-- a farmer himself-- has failed to be an advocate for the industry he represents. I’ve worked in agriculture education my entire career and can’t wait to fight for North State farmers and ranchers when they send me to DC... Every year it becomes harder and harder for farmer and ranchers to make their work pencil. Tariffs are adding increasing pressure on farmers’ already razor thin profit margins-- add this to an inability to find and retain skilled labor-- and many North State farmers are really hurting. Every multi-generational family famers’ nightmare is being the generation that loses the farm. My family lived that reality with the 2008 recession-- this is a personal issue for me."

This is also something specifically addressed by Bernie in his platform: Policies Leveling the Playing Field for Farmers and Farmworkers. "Corporate control over agriculture: We need to address corporate consolidation and control of our food and agriculture system-- all the way up the food chain from seed companies; fruit, vegetable, and grain growers; food processors; food distributors; and grocery chains. When markets become too concentrated, they begin to act more like monopolies than free markets."

• Enact and enforce Roosevelt-style trust-busting laws to stop monopolization of markets and break-up existing massive agribusinesses; Place a moratorium on future mergers of large agribusiness corporations and break-up existing massive agribusinesses. According to Food & Water Watch, “consolidation in the pork packing industry has contributed to the 82% decline in the number of hog farms in Iowa between 1982 and 2007.” In our country, just four companies slaughter 85% of beef cattle. USDA reports that between 2000 and 2015 "soybean sales from the largest four sellers rose from 51 to 76%." Additionally, after the Bayer-Monsanto merger, the two largest conglomerates now control 78% of the corn seed market. If Teddy Roosevelt were alive today, you know what he would say to these behemoth agribusiness companies: He would say, break them up. And, working together, that is exactly what we are going to do.
• Place a moratorium on vertical integration of large agribusiness corporations. As Food & Water Watch details “Pork packers often secure livestock through contract marketing arrangements with farmers. Farmers agree to deliver a certain number of hogs at a future date. These contracts give farmers a guaranteed market for their hogs, but large contract buyers can extract lower prices and distort and conceal prices.” According to the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, 42% of hogs and 96% of chickens in the US were grown under production contracts where the farmer never owns the animal. We must impose an immediate moratorium on agribusiness mergers.
• Reestablish and strengthen the Grain Inspectors, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), the agency that oversees antitrust in the packing industry. Lobbyists and the Trump administration have gutted GIPSA and blocked rules helping farmers. As the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition details, “The 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to write regulations to empower GIPSA to provide basic protections for farmers who do business with these companies. But when USDA tried to write the regulations, the meat and poultry industries launched a full-scale attack to get GOP lawmakers to pass appropriations riders to block USDA from finalizing those farmer protections.” Working together, we will restore the agency that enforces antitrust laws in the meatpacking industry-- an agency that Trump eliminated.
• Ensure farmers have the Right to Repair their own equipment. In rural America today, farmers can’t even repair their own tractors or other equipment because of the greed of companies like John Deere. As noted in Wired Magazine, “Farmers can’t change engine settings, can’t retrofit old equipment with new features, and can’t modify their tractors to meet new environmental standards on their own” without going through an authorized repair agent. When we are in the White House, we will pass a national right-to-repair law that gives every farmer in America full rights over the machinery they buy.
• Reform patent law to protect farmers from predatory patent lawsuits from seed corporations. We cannot continue to allow Monsanto to control 80% of U.S. corn and more than 90% of U.S. soybean seed patents – a situation that has only gotten worse after the Trump administration approved Monsanto’s disastrous merger with Bayer. We are going to reform our patent laws to protect farmers from predatory patent lawsuits from companies like Monsanto.
• Change regulations to improve markets for family farms-- Strengthen organic standards so behemoth agribusinesses cannot circumvent rules and cut out small producers who make investments in their communities and environment. We must begin by reversing the erosion of standards in recent years. According to the Organic Trade Association, The organic food market is now a $50 billion market, and over the last five years, the organic-food business has grown 10% annually, and makes up about 6% of the total food sold in America. The Trump administration has been working to rescind organic rules that organic farmers want. Those certification rules strengthen the sales pitch of organic products to consumers. When we are in the White House, we will undo this damage.
• Allow meat slaughtered at a state-inspected facility to be sold across state lines. Foreign meat that has “equivalent” inspection standards as our federal standards can be sold across state lines freely in the United States, while state inspected beef cannot, even when those state standards meet or exceed federal standards. This puts domestic producers at a disadvantage. We must level the playing field.

Fair trade deals: Our current trade policies encourage overproduction and push low-cost commodities on foreign countries, effectively undercutting and destroying local agricultural systems while enriching multinational corporations. Our agricultural trade policies should not threaten the domestic food security of the U.S. or any of our trading partners.

• Classify food supply security as a national security issue. We need trade policies that safeguard food security at home and around the globe. Over 800 million people worldwide are affected by undernourishment or food deprivation, including millions of small farmers threatened by climate change, volatile prices, and unfair trade practices. By 2050, food demand is expected to grow by 60% while at the same time the amount of arable land is estimated to shrink due to climate change, urbanization, and soil degradation. We’ve already seen how food insecurity and conflict are linked in ongoing famines in East Africa, South Sudan, and Yemen. When we are in the White House, food supply security will be the core of our national security.
• Develop fair trade partnerships that do not drive down the prices paid to food producers and that, instead, protect farmers here and abroad.
• Enforce country-of-origin-labeling so companies cannot import foreign meat for slaughter, passing it off as American grown to undercut domestic producers. Unfair trade policy has let foreign countries overturn our country-of-origin-labeling laws even though 90% of the American people support country-of-origin labeling. We must respect the will of the people and allow them to know where their food is coming from.

Ensure a fair price for family farmers: Independent family farms have been decimated by past and current farm policies, in the pursuit of short-run economic efficiency. The food security of the nation still depends on farmers on family-scale farms who are committed to being good stewards of the land and good citizens of their communities and nation.

• Enact supply management programs to prevent shortages and surpluses to ensure farmers make a living wage and ensure consumers receive a high-quality, stable, and secure supply of agricultural goods.
• Re-establish a national grain and feed reserve to help alleviate the need for government subsidies and ensure we have a food supply in case of extreme weather events. As we saw with the most recent flooding in the Midwest, we can lose a huge amount of agricultural land and goods in a single weather event.
• Reform agricultural subsidies so that more federal support goes to small- and mid-sized family farms, rather than that support going disproportionately to a handful of the largest producers.
• Transition toward a parity system to guarantee farmers a living wage. That means setting price floors and matching supply with demand so farmers are guaranteed the cost of production and family living expenses. • Pass comprehensive disaster coverage and allocate payments to independent family farming operations.
• Provide relief to help prevent independent family farm bankruptcies, which in areas like the Midwest are at their highest level in a decade.
• Help beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers get fair access to land and resources. When the average age of farmers is 58 and 95% of farmers are white, we need to help new farmers transition on to the land and ensure farming is a viable profession to support their families.
• Strengthen oversight of foreign acquisitions of American farmland in order to prevent that farmland from being controlled by foreign governments and foreign corporations. According to the New Food Economy, “the most recent figures from USDA show that roughly 25 million acres, about 2% of our national total of 930,000,000 acres, are in foreign hands. And the pace of investment seems to be picking up.” This is a national security issue and we must treat it like one.
• Invest in beginning farmers to purchase land and equipment for sustainable farming.
• Allocate government funding to purchase easements to ensure land stays in agriculture.
• Incentivize community ownership of farmland to allow more people to work the land and produce food for local consumers.
• Make government owned farmland available as incubator farms for beginning farmers.
• Incentivize programs-- including 4H, extension programs, or others-- to ensure diversity of age, race, gender, ability, and sexual orientation so we begin to eradicate systems and cultures that prevent fair access to agricultural land and opportunities. In 2017, 95% of all farmers accounted for were white, with black farmers reporting ownership declining at ten times the rate it did for white farmers. That’s on top of Black farmers losing 80% of their land between 1910 and 2007, in no small part due to systematic discrimination. Today only about 5% of black farmers reporting earning over $50,000, compared to 15% of white farmers.. 52% of American women farmers said they felt gender discrimination. When we are in the White House we will eradicate discrimination in agricultural land and opportunities.

Rebuild regional agricultural infrastructure: Past and current policies that support large corporate infrastructure have destroyed small and medium scale agricultural and food processing infrastructure in rural communities.

• Fund development of local, independent processing, aggregation, and distribution facilities.
• Incentivize rural cooperative business models and utilities, such as rural electric cooperatives, food co-ops, and credit unions. In 2009, of the 2.2 million total farms in this country, 2,389 were farm co-operatives. What we know is that when employees have an ownership stake in their company they will be more productive and they will earn a better living.