By Chris Gibbs
Contributing columnist
John Deere, a bellwether and symbol of American agricultural production power, has laid off hundreds of employees due to sluggish machinery sales. Their executives are grappling with the same reality farmers like me are seeing on the ground: The American agricultural sector, and by extension, rural America is struggling.
In 2023, U.S. agriculture net income declined compared to the previous year, and projections are bleak for 2024. This downward spiral is exacerbated by several factors that demand comprehensive intervention from legislators and our presidential candidates.
Prices for commodities like corn, soybeans, and wheat have plummeted below the cost of production. This economic imbalance places immense pressure on farmers who are now leveraging their farm’s equity to generate cash flow rather than relying on liquid working capital. The situation is further aggravated by stubbornly high interest rates on operating capital, which curtails purchasing power.
For me and my fellow farmers, that means fewer local expenditures for supplies, repair parts, tires, fuel, and labor. This credit crunch not only stifles farm operations but also dampens investment in new technologies and machinery, as evidenced by the Deere layoffs. When farmers curtail spending in their rural communities, the ripples are felt far downstream.
Robust international markets are key to keeping rural communities prosperous. President Trump’s punitive tariffs in 2018 alienated many of our traditional trading partners, poisoning the well of international trade relations.
Agriculture is the soft underbelly of the United States making it particularly vulnerable to retaliatory measures by foreign governments when tariffs are levied on their imports. Trump’s proposal for a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on all imports and a 60 percent tariff on China will trigger such retaliation, devastating U.S. agriculture and rural communities.
Today, export sales of 2024 crop U.S. soybeans are at their lowest level in decades. The lurch by many toward a protectionist stance coupled with the embrace of nationalism has left American farmers without reliable and resilient markets for their produce.
Trump jawboning our trading partners, friend or foe, has been a windfall for our competitors. For U.S. agriculture, ‘America First’ has resulted in ‘Brazil First.’
To navigate this crisis, a renewed and vigorous effort to develop new agricultural trade agreements is urgently needed. Without them, American farmers could spend decades frozen out of the very markets they’ve depended on for their rural community’s financial health.
Rural America is big on common sense. Vice President Harris’ tap of Governor Walz signals she’s ready to inject common-sense policy solutions into the debate. In doing so, they can open a conversation with farmers in swing states who, while they may have been fed a steady diet of trading partner bashing, know intuitively that Trump’s 10/60 tariff promise will devastate their ability to compete in the global marketplace.
The Harris dynamic duo also has the chance to reject outright the draconian changes to the agriculture policy included in Project 2025. The ultra-conservative think tank proposal offers the elimination of the Farm Bill’s shallow loss safety net provisions, makes risk insurance more expensive for farmers, decouples nutrition from commodity programming, and eliminates the wildly popular Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) that has protected our streams and wildlife for decades.
Instead of dismantling critical support structures, the Harris and Walz team should stump for rural America with unwavering support for completing Farm Bill negotiations and enhancing its safety net provisions, plus commit to robust new market development. At the same time, full-throated support for biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel would demonstrate they both understand these renewable energy sources not only provide alternative markets for agricultural products but also contribute to energy independence and environmental sustainability.
Now is the time for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz to signal they see us, and they hear us by reminding all Americans that U.S. agriculture is a national security interest. Now is the time to lead a national discussion focusing on the livelihoods of American farmers and rural communities by highlighting the role they play in ensuring our food supply remains safe, abundant, affordable, and sustainable.
Gibbs is the former Chairman of the Shelby County Ohio Republican Party and is now Chairman of the Shelby County Ohio Democratic Party. He is an Ohio farmer who raises corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, and cattle. Gibbs is retired from the United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency.
