Collapse of budget deal over Trump’s objections leaves American farmers in limbo

MINNEAPOLIS– American farmers hope that agricultural aid will be revived Congress is struggling to pass a short-term spending bill that would keep the federal government funded and avert a looming partial government shutdown that would begin after midnight Friday evening.

A one-year extension of federal farm programs, about $30 billion in economic aid and an agreement that would increase sales of a higher blend of ethanol called E15 were part of a bipartisan deal that collapsed Wednesday. President-elect Donald Trump And his allies denounced the total package. It was Thursday unclear whether a new deal could be struck in time to avoid a shutdown – and whether any of these farming provisions would survive in whole or in part, either as part of an extension or in separate legislation.

The proposed “continuing resolution” of Congress negotiators unveiled Tuesday evening would have extended the Farm Bill programs for another year after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a new five-year package despite months of negotiations. It also included $10 billion to help farmers struggling with high interest rates, falling crop prices and rising production costs that exceed farm incomes. Producers would also have received $20 billion of the $100 billion in disaster aid that was part of the failed package.

Even as he rejected the deal, Trump signaled that he was at least aware of concerns in farmlands, which voted heavily for him in the election.

“Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief and prepare our country for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRATIC GIVEAWAYS combined with a debt ceiling increase. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump said in a joint statement with Vice President-elect JD Vance on Wednesday evening.

Farm groups say the help they had hoped for would not have made producers healthy, but it would have given them much-needed stability as they apply for loans this winter to prepare for spring planting.

According to new forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture this month Net farm income is expected to decline 4.1% for 2024, after a decline of 19.4% in 2023 from the record highs reached in 2022.

Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau, urged Congress in a letter Wednesday evening to preserve the agriculture provisions in a new agreement.

“Any alternative Continuing Resolution (CR) must include: an extension of the farm bill, aid to rebuild after natural disasters, economic assistance to bridge the gap until we can pass a new farm bill, and year-round sales of E -15s,” Duval said. wrote. “Weather-related natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 have paralyzed communities across the country. The weather may be over, but unthinkable wreckage remains. Entire communities need to be rebuilt.”

Carolyn Olson — who grows organic corn, soybeans and wheat near Cottonwood in southwestern Minnesota — said the relief would be helpful to farmers affected by natural disasters, whether that’s drought in the Midwest or hurricanes in the Southeast .

Olson, vice president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau, said November through February can be a critical time as that’s when farmers make their big decisions for the coming year.

“It’s really important that farmers have some security and that their leaders know it’s OK to lend to their farms,” she said. “That’s kind of a big unknown that we’re facing. Some farmers are very concerned about what their loan officers are going to say.”

That goes for the Olsons too. Although their corn crop was good and they also make money by finishing about 14,000 conventional pigs per year, they lost their entire wheat crop in 2024 due to disease. So that has increased the stress they face, she said. And as organic farmers, they don’t have the costs of herbicides, but still face high costs for other expenses, such as fuel to heat their barns.

“We need Congress to vote yes on this,” Olson said.

Corn growers had pushed hard for a provision in the failed proposal that would allow permanent year-round sales of gasoline containing 15% ethanol produced from corn. Standard unleaded gas can contain up to 10% ethanol.

While the first Trump administration supported year-round sales, opposition from the oil industry and concerns that the fuel could worsen smog in hot weather caused E15 sales to decline in the summer subject to annual exemptions during the Biden administration. The Environmental Protection Agency approved only E15 year-round in February eight states in the Midwest from next year. That uncertainty has kept many gas stations from carrying the fuel. The industry hopes that year-round sales across the country will increase availability and support demand for corn.

Jim Kanten, who farms about 2,300 acres of corn and operates a custom fertilizer processing plant with his father and brother near Milan in western Minnesota, said he hopes the E15 provision ends up on the president’s desk.

“It’s been a long process,” said Kanten, president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. “We have been working on this for over ten years.”

And while producers need a temporary extension of the Farm Bill, Kanten said what they really need is the stability of a completely revamped five-year package.

But pork producers were not happy with the proposal that emerged Tuesday. They wanted Congress to have one The California animal welfare law that went into effect last year banning the domestic production and sale of fresh pork from pigs born from sows kept in strict confinement. Producers in other states must meet these standards if they want to sell pork in California. Farmer groups say it is increasing costs for producers throughout the country and rising prices for consumers rural.

“After years of losing money and forcing family farms into bankruptcy, we needed the certainty to make decisions yesterday,” said Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton in southern Minnesota who is president of the National Pork Producers Council. “Congress’s complete disregard and inability to provide sufficient certainty to producers will certainly make this a bleak holiday season for many farm families across the country.”