Farmers' loyalty to Trump is about to be tested
The agriculture industry has stuck by the president even as his trade wars have hit their bottom lines. This fall harvest may see the limits of the their patience.
Farmers across the country are looking at record yields during their fall harvest. They may have nowhere to sell them.
As a result of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, crop farmers have lost a significant export market, driving down the price of top U.S. crops like soybeans and corn, even as Trump’s tariffs drive up the cost of farm equipment and fertilizer.
Now, as they approach the end of growing season, those farmers, farm groups and Republican lawmakers from agriculture-heavy states are warning of a looming crisis: crops piling up with nowhere to put them and farmers ending the year deep in the red.
They’re still not ready to blame Trump and his trade policies, however, a sign of just how much grace the agriculture community continues to grant Trump, even as his ambitious efforts to restructure the global trade economy clash directly with their economic interests. This fall could prove the stiffest loyalty test yet, as the administration struggles to make progress in trade negotiations it’s promised will finally bring the ag industry some relief.
“When our members are in the fields harvesting, they will be staring at a visual representation of this economy and this looming farm crisis. They will be looking at literal piles of corn and other row crops,” said Lesly Weber McNitt, vice president of public policy at the National Corn Growers Association. “They don’t know where it’s going.”
Farmer sentiment dropped in June, July and August, according to Purdue University’s Ag Economy Barometer, a monthly survey that measures the health of the agricultural economy, but it’s still higher than when former President Joe Biden was in office.
“I think the farmers realize, particularly crop producers, this is not going to be a good year by any stretch of the imagination,” said Michael Langemeier, the director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “But when you ask things about the long-term policy environment, they’re always positive related to those questions.”
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https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/10/farmers-trump-loyalty-agriculture-trade-00554909
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