On July 24, United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that the Department of Agriculture would make available $12 billion of taxpayer money to be paid to producers of soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and hogs. The money will also be used to buy surpluses of those products and develop new markets.

The implementation of these measures to support farmers come as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on products from several nations, including steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico, China and the European Union.

These tariffs, in turn, led these nations to retaliate and place their own tariffs on American agricultural goods.  Tariffs on agricultural goods saw the American farm economy take a nose dive as the sale prices for these goods plummeted.

Lower prices means less money for farmers who rely on the sale of corn, soybeans and other grains and livestock for their income.  This poses a huge problem for Trump, as farmers and rural Americans were integral to his election victory.  

In the key states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the number of farmers is greater than Trump’s 2016 margin of victory.  Together, these three states make up 48 electoral votes, a large number when calculating the 270 votes needed to win the presidency.

Trump’s solution to this problem is to give farmers a $12 billion check to buy their excess goods and make up for the money they would have made if he hadn’t bumbled his way into a trade war.  

Frankly, farmers don’t want a bailout. They just want to be able to sell their goods to other countries that will pay good money for them.

For example, Kevin Skunes, the President of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), reaffirmed the organization’s opposition to Trump’s tariffs.

“NCGA’s grower members are confronting their fifth consecutive year of declining farm incomes while facing high levels of uncertainty due to ongoing trade disputes and disruptions in the ethanol markets,” Skunes said in an official statement on the NCGA website on July 24. “Corn farmers prefer to rely on markets, not an aid package, for their livelihoods.” 

Additionally, politicians in farm states like Iowa have weighed in. Governor Kim Reynolds was vocal in her opposition to the plan.

“The $12 billion in farm aid announced today will provide a short-term fix, but it’s not a long-term solution,” Reynolds said on the Office of the Governor of Iowa’s website on July 24. “As I’ve said all along, nobody wins in a trade war. We must continue to expand and open markets, protect the Renewable Fuel Standard and allow Iowa products to be sold across the globe. Iowa farmers are the most productive in the world and will always win when they have unrestricted access to markets. I will never stop fighting for Iowa families affected by this trade war.”

We need more voices like Reynolds’ and Skunes’ to push for these changes to happen.

If we really want to help American farmers, we should work to end this trade war and restore the export markets for farmers to send their products to, instead of trying to ignore the problem by spending hard earned American taxpayer money to alleviate the pain.