In 10 weeks, Donald Trump will become president and “there’s a lot more uncertainty” about his plans for food and agriculture policy than normally accompanies an incoming administration, says president Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union. “We know a fair amount of what he’s against and less of what he’s for.”
There was little discussion of farm and food policy during the general election campaign. Trump supported corn ethanol, elimination of the estate tax and less regulation. His newly created transition website says the new administration will “make full use of our domestic energy sources, including traditional and renewable energy sources,” scrap the Waters of the United States rule, and impose a temporary moratorium on new federal regulations as the start of a thorough review “to identify and eliminate unnecessary regulations that kill jobs and bloat government.”
“We know nothing about what he’s going to do or say about the (2018) farm bill,” said Johnson during an interview.
Congress traditionally takes the lead in writing farm bills, the panoramic legislation that sets the terms for crop subsidies, food aid, conservation, crop insurance, food stamps, ag research and rural economic development programs. Going into the fall, farm groups expected the line-up of crop supports in the 2018 farm bill would be similar to the 2014 law. The continued slump in farm income is creating anxiety whether the farm program is sufficient.
Trump arrives in Washington without owing many favors to lawmakers. Given the large vote margin in rural America for Trump, a key in his victory, “one might say agriculture has more clout than before,” said Johnson.
Johnson said there could be “substantial agreement” between the NFU, the second-largest U.S. farm group, and the Trump camp. In late October, Trump said “on my first day in office,” the government would withdraw from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and call for re-negotiation of NAFTA. The NFU says “TPP is modeled after the failed deals of the past and it is destined to fail.” Most of the large-scale U.S. farm groups support TPP because it would open Japan’s food market to more U.S. imports.
“I think you’ll see a very pro-agriculture administration that will see exports grow and have fair trade agreements,” Iowa businessman Bruce Rastetter, a political power in Iowa and a member of Trump’s agriculture advisory committee, told Agriculture.com. Rastetter has been mentioned as a possible nominee for agriculture secretary. He demurred on that subject and told the agricultural news site, “I’d be happy to help in any way I can.”
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