Tag: farmers

China Pivots To Brazil, Squeezing U.S. Farmers As Trump Plans Relief Fund

President Trump announced plans last week to use tariff revenue as a financial cushion for struggling American farmers as China shuns U.S. agricultural goods. Beijing’s pivot to Brazilian ag suppliers has left Midwest farmers in the nation’s top ag belts fearing a spiral into financial hardship.

At the White House on Thursday, President Trump told reporters, “We’re going to take some of that tariff money that we’ve made, we’re going to give it to our farmers, who are – for a little while – going to be hurt until it kicks in, the tariffs kick in to their benefit.” 

Trump later told reporters that he has not decided on a final version of the plan and would consult with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on the matter. 

China’s abrupt pivot to Brazil, after decades of purchasing more than half of the U.S.’s soybeans annually, highlights elevated trade tensions this year as both superpowers attempt to find common ground on a new deal. 

Financial Times noted, “For decades, more than half of all U.S. soybeans went to China, the world’s biggest buyer. But this year, as trade talks between Washington and Beijing stall, not a single American soybean has headed east, leaving farmers struggling to stay afloat as bins fill and prices sag while China turns to record supplies from Brazil.” 

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Farmers Tell Mitch McConnell His Push To Ban Hemp Products With THC Will Cause ‘Catastrophic Consequences’

Dozens of hemp farmers from Kentucky are urging their state’s senior U.S. senator to back off from his push to recriminalize some products that are derived from their crops.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who successfully championed the federal legalization of hemp through the 2018 Farm Bill, has been working this year to roll back that policy by prohibiting hemp derivatives with a “quantifiable” amount of THC, saying that he never intended to allow a market for intoxicating cannabis products.

The recriminalization proposal has advanced in both the House and Senate this session, though a push by McConnell’s home state colleague, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), got the provision removed from their chamber’s bill ahead of its final passage. Paul has cautioned, however, that prohibitionist forces are working to include the ban in other legislative vehicles—which he said could potentially be enacted within weeks.

“If Congress moves to eliminate the end markets that make our crop viable, we will suffer immediate and catastrophic consequences,” the 58 farmers who have agreements to sell hemp crops they have harvested this season wrote to McConnell in the new letter on Monday. “We have taken out loans, hired the necessary help, planted the crop, and contracted with processors and/or brands. Any legislative change that pulls the rug out from under this market—especially mid-season—is a direct blow to our farms, families, and rural communities.”

The farmers, who are requesting an in-person meeting with McConnell, wrote that “hemp is the foundation of our diversified, sustainable farm operations that helps us weather tough commodity cycles, diversify away from tobacco and empower profit in an uncertain economy”—adding that its federal legalization in 2018 gave them a new crop with “real economic opportunity” for the “first time in decades.”

While the letter signatories do not support a ban along the lines of what McConnell has pushed in Congress this year—which they say would “empower the illicit market and destroy American farm income in the process”—they do back “responsible regulation” for the crop.

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Push To Cut Livestock For Climate Goals (Due To Burping & Farting) Worries UK Farmers, Ecologists

UK government advisers have urged deep cuts to the country’s cattle and sheep numbers to reduce the overall levels of methane emissions.

Officials insist no mass cull is planned.

But farmers are concerned that it’s part of a growing push to reduce livestock levels, which could sacrifice traditional grazing and damage the fragile ecosystems it supports. 

The UK’s net-zero policies go further than those of the European Commission, where cattle farms remain outside regulatory crosshairs until next year.

In February, the UK’s independent adviser on climate action, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), whose advice strongly guides government policy, recommended a 27 percent decrease in cattle and sheep numbers by 2040 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the UK government, agriculture is the country’s largest source of domestic methane emissions, accounting for 49 percent of total emissions. Of this, around 85 percent of agricultural methane comes from cows and other ruminant animals through enteric fermentation and is released as mostly burps but also flatulence.

One discussed option in the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee’s 2024 report as a mitigation strategy included “reducing ruminant livestock numbers, enabled by dietary change and reduced food waste.”

‘It’s Completely Backwards’

Britain’s livestock farms, which are mostly grass-based, are integrated into the iconic patchwork countryside, with sheep and cattle grazing in open fields divided by hedgerows and stone walls as part of a complex natural ecosystem.

Alan Hughes, a fourth-generation tenant farmer who is part of the Farmers to Action agricultural rights campaign, told The Epoch Times that wider net-zero proposals on livestock ignore the ecological function of grazing.

“It’s completely backwards to stop grazing. It causes fires, which then releases far more CO₂ than the livestock sequence by grazing,” he said.

He added that without sheep grazing, “sheep don’t eat the dry matter,” which then turns to kindling.

“This then starts wildfires, from the peat and from the crops which should have been eaten by the sheep, which causes a massive release of CO₂,” he said.

Beyond fire risk, Hughes said that reducing livestock also damages food security and degrades natural ecosystems.

“The biggest issue we’re going to have before long is not enough protein to feed our population, which is why they’re looking at bugs,” he said.

“If they force us to do more, I call it ‘less natural’ ways of production. If you don’t have livestock grazing, you don’t have the manure or improve the biodiversity of soil, and that’s when you get soil erosion, which causes deserts, or you’re forced to do vegetable crops.

“Now, when you plow up a field for vegetable crops, you kill the root structure of grass. Now that then turns to methane and carbon dioxide, which is actually released.”

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EU hits Greece with record fine over farmers subsidy fraud

The European Union has imposed a 392.2 million-euro ($451.9 million) fine on Greece over a major scandal involving the mismanagement of agricultural subsidies by a government agency between 2016 and 2022.

The bloc’s Executive Commission decided to reduce the subsidies Greece will receive in the next years by 5%, it said on Friday, reflecting the view that there has been no proper supervision and operation of the subsidy management model for years.

Greece expected to receive about 1.9 billion euros in direct EU subsidies next year.

The fine comes months after European prosecutors charged dozens of Greek livestock farmers who received EU financial aid through the Greek government paying agency OPEKEPE with making false declarations of ownership or leasing of pastureland.

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Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Boost Subsidies for Rich Farmers

It should be clear by now that, despite the assurances from President Donald Trump and his allies in government, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month—not only won’t reduce the federal budget deficit but will in fact increase the nation’s debt load by $2.4 trillion over the next decade.

Given that Trump came into office promising to cut federal spending, it’s worth looking at how Trump’s bill does the opposite of what he and other Republicans say it does. And one of the more egregious things it does is boost corporate welfare for wealthy farmers.

“The government provides agricultural subsidies—monetary payments and other types of support—to farmers or agribusinesses,” says the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). “While some subsidies are given to promote specific farming practices, others focus on research and development, conservation practices, disaster aid, marketing, nutrition assistance, risk mitigation, and more.”

“In reality, this support is highly skewed toward the five major ‘program’ commodities of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice,” according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental advocacy organization. “Despite the rhetoric of ‘preserving the family farm,’ the vast majority of farmers do not benefit from federal farm subsidy programs and most of the subsidies go to the largest and most financially secure farm operations.”

The new bill will only make the problem worse: According to an analysis by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the bill “would increase agriculture-facing programs spending by $56.6 billion over the next decade,” of which “$52.3 billion is tied to enhancements in the farm safety net.”

That “farm safety net” comprises most agricultural subsidy spending in any given year. It includes price and revenue guarantees for certain crops, ensuring farmers earn a set minimum on staples like corn and soybeans, as well as crop insurance assistance, covering up to 60 percent of farmers’ insurance premiums in the event of price declines or poor harvests.

The programs are a bad deal for taxpayers—indeed, for anybody but the very wealthiest agribusinesses. “Just in the last 10 years, crop insurance agents and the 14 companies the USDA allows to sell and service crop insurance policies…received almost $33.3 billion from the federal Crop Insurance Program,” EWG Midwest director Anne Schechinger wrote in 2023. “In some years, up to one-third of crop insurance payments are made to companies and agents, not farmers.”

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Civil rights watchdog threatens to sue USDA for continuing to discriminate against white farmers

Acivil rights watchdog has threatened to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for continuing to discriminate against white farmers despite the new secretary rescinding some of the agency’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives a

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) said it might take legal action against USDA Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins over the matter as new whistleblower allegations come to light 

According to the Washington Examiner, whistleblowers have accused the agency of providing loan relief under former President Joe Biden based on race.

“We appreciate the Trump Administration’s strong stance against DEI, but Secretary Rollins must take the discrimination at USDA much more seriously,” WILL’s managing vice president and deputy counsel Dan Lennington said in a statement. “If she doesn’t, we will hold her accountable very soon in federal court. She has received fair warning from WILL and Congress.”

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USDA Whistleblower Says Biden Regime Secretly Crushed White Farmers by Only Paying Off Farmer Loans if They Were Not White Males

A whistleblower from the Department of Agriculture told NewsNation that the Biden Administration loan relief program purposely hurt White farmers.

The Biden Regime, through the ‘American Rescue Act’ used $800 million in taxpayer money to secretly give loan forgiveness to minority farmers.

“It’s not right,” the USDA whistleblower told NewsNation. “It was discriminatory. Unethical. And the people who pushed it are still in charge of the agency … (those) at the national office. Trump hasn’t gotten rid of them.”

“So just to be clear, if you were American Indian, Alaskan, Native, Asian, Black, African American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or Latino and you were in that group and you were told you didn’t have to pay your bills?” NewsNation asked the whistleblower.

The whistleblower said, according to the American Rescue Plan, the relief was offered up to 120% loan to value which means the farmers could claim they were upside down to get even more cash!

“Essentially, yes, that’s correct. And that your loan would be forgiven up to 120% of the loan value,” the whistleblower said.

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South Africa’s Malema Repeats ‘Kill the Farmer’ as Ramaphosa Stays Quiet

South African opposition figure Julius Malema led his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party on Sunday in chants of “Kill the Boer,” “Shoot to kill,” and “Kill the farmer,” while President Cyril Ramaphosa stayed quiet.

Malema posted footage of his own chant on X, including the incendiary words of the chant in his post.

The chant, which South African courts have refused to ban despite its potential for violent incitement and its apparent violation of the South African Constitution’s ban on hate speech, came up last week in Ramaphosa’s meeting in the Oval Office with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump made Ramaphosa sit through a video, including footage of Malema leading the chant, after the South African leader pushed back on Trump’s claims of “genocide” in his country.

When pressed by a reporter about whether he has “denounced that type of language,” Ramaphosa claimed, “Oh, yes. We’ve always done so. As a government, as my own party, we are completely opposed to that.” He referred to his party’s 1955 manifesto, the Freedom Charter.

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South Africa’s Julius Malema Responds to Trump’s Claim of ‘Genocide’ by Doubling Down: ‘Kill the Farmer!’

South African politician Julius Malema, the leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, responded to President Donald Trump’s claims about “genocide” Wednesday by reiterating calls to kill white farmers.

Earlier that day, Trump had shown visiting South African President Cyril Ramaphosa video of Malema leading rally chants of “Kill the Boer!”, “Kill the farmer!”, “Shoot to kill!”, and other incendiary slogans.

Ramaphosa tried to argue that Malema’s rhetoric did not represent the government’s policies, but Trump countered that South Africa had passed a law allowing expropriation of land without compensation, that it had racially discriminatory laws, and that thousands of white farmers were attempting to leave to the U.S.

Malema reacted angrily on X, reiterating his commitment to expropriation without compensation.

His party later issued a statement in which it declared: “Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer! Victory is Certain!”

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Lawmakers Call On USDA To End Biden Era Discriminatory Policies Against White Farmers

Wisconsin’s Republican House delegation is calling for an end to Biden-era programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that discriminate against white male farmers. The holdover initiatives that, among other things, offer better loan terms to so-called “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” are at the core of civil rights legal battles four-plus years in the making. 

In a letter exclusively provided to The Federalist, the lawmakers urge Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to investigate the case of Adam Faust. The disabled Wisconsin dairy farmer “has been subjected to protected class-based discrimination by USDA … ineligible for certain USDA programs” because he is white and a man, the letter asserts. 

“President Trump has taken bold and decisive action to eliminate racially discriminatory policies within the executive branch,” the congressmen — Reps. Tony Wied, Derrick Van Orden, Tom Tiffany, Bryan Steil, Glenn Grothman, and Scott Fitzgerald — remind the Ag secretary. “Agencies, including USDA, have been ordered to terminate all race-based programs and regulations. USDA should comply with President Trump’s order immediately. Each day without reform further disadvantages farmers, like Mr. Faust, based on their immutable characteristics.”

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