U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins published an opinion piece in USA TODAY highlighting this week’s actions the Trump Administration is taking to protect American farmers.
“Under President Joe Biden, the cost of doing business increased drastically, and commodity prices slumped after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. Between 2020 and this year, seed costs increased 18%, fuel was up 32%, fertilizer went up 37%, labor went up 47%, and interest expenses shot up by a whopping 73%," said Secretary Rollins. "While American farmers face historic pressures, this week, President Donald Trump reminded them he is their greatest champion. That’s why President Trump directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a bridge to support American agricultural producers while new trade deals take effect and give input costs time to come down. This new aid program is a limited but critical bridge to the improvements President Trump and Republicans in Congress have made through the One Big Beautiful Bill. The bridge funding will assist farmers until input costs and inflation go down.”
Read the full piece below.
While American farmers face historic pressures, this week, President Donald Trump reminded them he is their greatest champion.
As our very first president, George Washington, himself a farmer, told a joint session of Congress in 1796: “It will not be doubted, that with reference either to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.”
More than two centuries later, those words remain true.
Our farmers not only feed, fuel and clothe us, but they bear and sustain a set of values and principles that are essential to the continuation of our republic.
Like the pioneers who settled this great nation, our farmers and ranchers build civilization from wilderness and fulfill God’s command to till the earth, renewing our national inheritance of liberty for new generations.
That is why all of America is under threat when American agriculture is under threat.
And there’s no doubt that right now, American agriculture is under threat.
Biden's policies hurt America's agriculture industry
Under President Joe Biden, the cost of doing business increased drastically, and commodity prices slumped after the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. Between 2020 and this year, seed costs increased 18%, fuel was up 32%, fertilizer went up 37%, labor went up 47%, and interest expenses shot up by a whopping 73%.
This is unsustainable for our farmers and ranchers, and it has left them with heavier debt loads and fewer tools to manage risk.
Suffice it to say, rural America was on the brink of ruin.
But on Jan. 20, 2025, that all changed.
In just 10 months, the Trump administration has delivered more targeted support, faster relief and opened more markets than the Biden administration managed in four.
Whereas Biden failed to sign even one new trade agreement, the Trump administration is rapidly expanding sales to new buyers in more than two dozen key markets, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Southeast Asia
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