Agriculture & Farming (2020 Presidential Election)

Source: https://www.feedstuffs.com/news/farmer-share-food-dollar-declines

Last week, we started our exploration of affordable housing in America by looking at FDR’s New Deal.  Let’s start there again, this time in a slightly better light.  In the 1930’s, FDR’s administration recognized the crucial role that farmers would play in getting Americans out of the Great Depression.  He set up a system that guaranteed farmers fair prices and prevented overproduction.  On April 27, 1935, he signed the Soil Conservation Act which aimed to combat soil erosion and preserve natural resources.  For decades, farmers thrived under this system.

In the 1970’s, President Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz, who served as a board member for several agribusiness firms, undid the portions of the New Deal that protected farmers from big agribusiness companies.  This deregulation allowed the corporate agriculture industry to thrive.  

Today, big grain and meat corporations are thriving, while farmers are in an economic crisis.  Big agribusiness controls the market, at the detriment of farmers.  Thanks to mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation, a handful of companies control American agriculture.  The top 4 meat processing companies take 53% of the market share.  The three biggest chicken companies have 90% of the market share.  Tyson, for example, knows the farming side of the chicken production is not profitable.  So, they profit from every other part of production, but leave the farming, and therefore the losses, to the farmers.

For every dollar Americans spend on food, U.S. farmers and ranchers receive just 14.6 cents.  This is a 17% decline since 2011 and the lowest amount received since 1993, when the USDA began tracking these numbers.  In the past five years, the U.S. has lost an upwards of 70,000 farm operations. American farmers are facing debt levels that haven’t been seen since the 1980’s, at $409 billion.  The market is paying farmers far less than what it costs to produce the food. Over half of farmers are reporting a negative income.  Compounding this issue is the trade war.  Due to the on-going trade war between the United States and China, US Department of Agriculture Chief Economist, Robert Johannson, predicted the farm exports would fall by $1.9 billion this year.  The USDA has issued nearly $8 billion worth of support payments to farmers designed to counter the financial losses of the trade war.  Yet, the rate of farmer suicides is double that of veterans.

Presidential Plans (If this is a stand alone issue for a candidate, I have linked their entire plan to their name):

Joe Biden:  Biden says he’ll pursue a trade policy that works for American farmers.  He will expand the Obama administration’s microloan program for new and beginning farmers doubling the maximum loan amount to $100,000.  He will increase funding for the USDA’s farm ownership and operating loans. And, he will partner with farmers to achieve net-zero emissions.

Cory Booker:  Booker’s Climate Stewardship Act seeks to increase incentives to farmers for conservation practices.  As senator he introduced a bill that would place a moratorium on mergers and acquisitions between large farm, food, and grocery companies.  The bill is endorsed by more than 200 farm, food, rural, and consumer advocacy organizations.

Pete Buttigieg: Buttigieg will pay farmers to adopt climate-friendly practices.  His “New Rising Tide” plan focuses on expanding federal labor protections to cover farm workers by ensuring they are protected by labor and employment laws such as the right to unionize and minimum wage requirements.

Kamala Harris:  Harris’s Climate Plan for the Future makes big investments in climate-smart agriculture.  This year, she reintroduced legislation aimed at strengthening labor protections for farm workers.  She supports government subsidies for farmers.

Amy Klobuchar: Klobuchar wants to expand commodity support, disaster programs, and federal crop insurance for small and family owned farms.  She wants to take on consolidation and restore staffing levels at the Department of Agriculture.  As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, she worked on the 2018 Farm Bill.

Bernie Sanders:  Again, like Warren, Sanders has an extensive agriculture plan.  Some of the highlights include FDR-style trust-busting laws to stop monopolization of markets and break up massive agribusiness.  He will also place a moratorium on mergers and vertical integration of large agribusiness corporations. He will make sure farmers have the right to repair their own equipment.  He also has plans for fair trade deals and ensuring a fair price for farmers.

Tom Steyer:  Steyer and his wife, Kathryn Taylor, own TomKat Ranch.  He produces grass-fed, hormone-free beef.  He finances exhaustive scientific research on his ranch on climate-conscious farming.

Donald Trump:  Trump has a list of accomplishments related to agriculture on his website.  He proclaimed March 17, 2017 National Agriculture Day. On April 25, 2017, he signed an executive order promoting agriculture and rural prosperity in America.  He then proclaimed March 20, 2018 National Agriculture Day. On April 13, 2018, it was announced by the USDA and USTR that Argentina would begin accepting U.S. pork products for the first time in 26 years as a part of Trump’s push to open markets to American agriculture.  On August 7, 2018, the USDA announced that the government of Morocco would allow the commercial imports of U.S. poultry meat and products into Morocco for the first time.

Elizabeth Warren:  Warren wants to guarantee farmers a fair price, reduce overproduction, and pay farmers for environmental conservation.  She wants to build on the model of the supply management program from The New Deal. She says this will be billions of dollars cheaper than the current subsidy program, and provide income to farmers that are higher.  Warren has, by far, the most detailed plan related to this issue. She is committed to breaking up big agribusiness that controls more and more of the market.

Andrew Yang:  Yang believes the government needs to invest in alternatives to traditional farming and ensure more sustainable techniques.  He believes a portion of planned farm subsidies over the next 15 years should be redirected toward sustainable techniques and alternative farming methods.