Over three weeks after the derecho, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue is the first Trump administration official to leave the airport or divert from a political campaign schedule to actually tour storm damage. Perdue’s visit comes 24 days late in a desperate damage control attempt for the years of hardship President Trump’s reckless agenda has bestowed on Iowa farmers.
Trump’s misguided trade war is bearing down on Iowa farmers as demand for corn, soybeans, and ethanol continues to fall exponentially. Yet, Trump’s bailouts have gone to large corporations and overlooked family farms. Bankruptcy for small and mid-sized farms, even before coronavirus, was increasing under Trump’s agenda. No matter what fabrications Perdue tries to spin to farmers today, the facts speak for themselves: farmers are suffering as a direct result of Trump’s negligence and incompetence.
Take a look at the facts on Trump’s disastrous trade war and farm agenda:
- Demand for crops like corn, soybeans, and ethanol have plunged since 2018 as a result of Trump’s trade war — $28 billion in farm aid had to be provided to offset these massive losses, leaving too many farmers dependent on government subsidies.
- Despite Trump’s promises, China is still lagging on the import increases for crops it promised and punitive tariffs are still in place, adding to the economic instability farmers have felt from the historic recession caused by COVID-19.
- Two thirds of the payments from Trump’s 2018 bailout program went to the top 10% of recipients — not family farms.
- In 2019, under Trump’s leadership bankruptcy filings for small and medium-sized farms rose by 20%.
- Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the ethanol industry lost $375 million in the first three months of this year. In 2019, 2 cents was lost to every gallon of ethanol produced.
- Trump’s EPA has ‘sold out’ Iowa’s largest economy by giving handouts to Big Oil companies at the cost of farmers and energy producers.
“Secretary Perdue’s visit is 24 days too late after the worst natural disaster in our state’s history destroyed at least 10 million acres of farmland,” said Iowa Democratic Party Communications Director Mandy McClure. “Trump and Perdue’s agriculture agenda has left farmers behind and tanked a farm economy that Iowa farmers spent decades building. Trump’s broken promises to help farmers rebuild after the derecho only adds to the compounding economic effects of the pandemic, ongoing Trade War, and Big Oil bailouts. Farmers are bearing the brunt of Trump’s chaotic agenda on every front, and they’re ready to hold Trump accountable at the polls in November.”