"....I guess we should have paid attention to the Project 2025 document" - head of Kansaa Farmer's Union

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353

Republican lawmakers no show as western Wisconsin farmers complain of Trump chaos, disruption​


By:​





An Eau Claire County farm. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)

Seven western Wisconsin Republican lawmakers did not appear at an event hosted by the Wisconsin Farmers Union in Chippewa Falls Friday as farmers from the area said they were concerned about the effect that President Donald Trump’s first month in office is having on their livelihoods.

Madison-area U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Black Earth), state Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) and state Reps. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) and Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) were in attendance.

U.S. Reps. Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden, state Reps. Rob Summerfield (R-Bloomer), Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi) and Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) and state Sens. Jesse James (R-Thorp) and Rob Stafsholt (R-New Richmond) were all invited but did not attend or send a staff member.



The Wisconsin Farmers Union office in Chippewa Falls. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)

“All four of us want you to know that there are people in elected office who want to fight for you,” Phelps said. “Because I think there’s a lot of fear that comes from the fact that we’re seeing a lot of noise and action from the people who aren’t and some of the people that didn’t show up to this. So I hope that you will also ask questions of them when you get a chance.”

Multiple times during the town hall, Pocan joked that Van Orden was “on vacation.”

Emerson, whose district was recently redrawn to include many of the rural areas east of Eau Claire, told the Wisconsin Examiner she had just been at an event held by the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation where a Van Orden staff member did attend, so she didn’t understand why they couldn’t hear about how Trump’s policies are harming local farmers.

“I get that a member of Congress can’t be at every meeting all the time, all throughout their district,” Emerson said. With 19 counties in the 3rd District, “it’s a big area. But I hope that they’re hearing the stories of farmers and farm-adjacent businesses, even if they weren’t here. There’s something different to sit in this room and look out at all the farmers, and when one person’s talking, seeing the tears in everybody else’s eyes, and it wasn’t just the female farmers that were crying, the big tough guys, and I think that talks about how vulnerable they are right now, how scary it is for some of these folks.”

Carolyn Kaiser, a resident of the nearby town of Wheaton, said she’s never seen her congressional representative, Van Orden, out in the community. Despite Van Orden’s position on the House agriculture committee, Kaiser said her town needs help managing nitrates in the local water supply and financial support to rebuild crumbling rural roads that make it more difficult for farmers to transport their products.

“When people don’t come, it’s unfortunate,” Kaiser said.

Emmet Fisher, who runs a small dairy farm in Hager City, said during the town hall that he was struggling with the freeze that’s been put on federal spending, which affected grants he was set to receive through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Fisher told the Examiner his farm has participated in a USDA program to encourage better conservation practices on farms and that money has been frozen. He was also set to receive a rural energy assistance grant that would help him install solar panels on the farm — money that has also been held up.

The result, he said, is that he’s facing increased uncertainty in an already uncertain business.



U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan speaks at a Wisconsin Farmers Union event in Chippewa Falls on Feb. 21. (Photo by Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)

“We get all our income from our farm, young family, young kids, a mortgage on the farm, and so, you know, things are kind of tight, and so we try to take advantage of anything that we can,” he said. “[The] uncertainty seems really unnecessary and unfortunate, and it’s very stressful. You know, basically, we have no idea what we should be planning for. The reality is just that in farming already, you can only plan for so much when the weather and ecology and biology matter so much, and now to have all of these other unknowns, it makes planning pretty much impossible.”

A number of crop farmers at the event said the looming threat of Trump imposing tariffs on Canadian imports is alarming because a large majority of potash — a nutrient mix used to fertilize crops — used in the United States comes from Canada. Les Danielson, a cash crop and dairy farmer in Cadott, said the tariffs are set to go into effect during planting season.

“How do you offer a price to a farmer? Is it gonna be $400 a ton, or is it gonna be $500 a ton?” he asked. “I’m not even thinking about the fall. I’m just thinking about the spring and the uncertainty. This isn’t cuts to the federal budget, this is just plain chaos and uncertainty that really benefits no one. And I know it’s kind of cool to think we’re just playing this big game of chicken. Everybody’s gonna blink. But when you’re a co-op, or when you’re a farmer trying to figure out how much you can buy, it’s not fine.”

A recent report by the University of Illinois found that a 25% tariff on Canadian imports — the amount proposed by Trump to go into effect in March — would increase fertilizer costs by $100 per ton for farmers.

Throughout the event, speakers said they were concerned that Trump’s efforts to deport workers who are in the United States without authorization could destroy the local farm labor force, that cuts to programs such as SNAP (commonly known as food stamps) could cause kids to go hungry and prevent farmers from finding markets to sell their products, that cuts to Medicaid could take coverage away from a population of farmers that is aging and relies on government health insurance and that because of all the disruption, an already simmering mental health crisis in Wisconsin’s agricultural community — in rural parts of the state that have seen clinics and hospitals close or consolidate — could come to a boil.

“Rural families, we tend to really need BadgerCare. We need Medicaid. We need those programs, too,” Pam Goodman, a public health nurse and daughter of a farmer, said. “So if you’re talking about the loss of your farming income, that you’re not going to have cash flow, you’re already experiencing significant concerns and issues, and we need the state resources. We need those federal resources. I’ve got families that from young to old, are experiencing significant health issues. We’re not going to be able to go to the hospital. We’re not going to go to the clinic. We already traveled really long distances. We’re talking about the health of all of us, and that is, for me, from my perspective as a nurse, one of my biggest concerns, because it’s all very interrelated.”

Near the end of the event, Phelps said it’s important for farmers in the area to continue sharing how they’re being hurt by Trump’s actions, because that’s how they build political pressure.

“Who benefits from all the chaos and confusion and cuts? Nobody, roughly, but not literally, nobody,” he said. “Because I just want to point out that dividing people and making people confused and uncertain and vulnerable is Donald Trump’s strategy to consolidate his political power.”

“And the people that can withstand the types of cuts that we’re seeing are the people so wealthy that they can withstand them. So they’re in Donald Trump’s orbit, basically,” Phelps said, adding that there are far more people who will be adversely affected by Trump’s policies than there are people who will benefit.

“And you know that we all do have differences with our neighbors, but we also have a lot of similarities with them, and being in that massive group of people that do not benefit from this kind of chaos and confusion is a pretty big similarity,” he continued. “And so hopefully these types of spaces where we’re sharing our stories and hearing from each other will help us build the kind of community that will result in the kind of political power that really does fight back against it.”
 

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353



Missouri Farmer in Danger of Losing His Farm Due to Federal Freeze Blasted for Claiming He 'Didn't Have Time to Research' Before Voting​




"I haven't been paying attention...and I'm having those constructive conversations now"​


Morgan Music /Published Feb 10 2025, 9:00 PM EST

Missouri Farmer in Danger of Losing His Farm Due to


Skylar Holden is in danger of losing his Missouri farm following a federal funding freeze that's led to the reneging on a government conservation contract.@cattlemenfamilyfarms via TikTok

A Missouri cattle farmer is facing financial ruin after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) froze funding for key conservation programs, despite previously signed contracts with the government.

The freeze, part of the Trump administration's sweeping federal review of spending programs, has left Skylar Holden, a first-generation farmer, scrambling to save his land.

@cattlemenfamilyfarms Also to add this is nothing against anyone who works with the NRCS. Absolutely amazing people who have been super helpful. It's just out of their hands. I have never been so stressed in my life. #politics #farming #agriculture #politicians #senate #houseofrepresentatives ♬ original sound - Skylar Holden

Holden, who voted for President Donald Trump, had signed a $240,000 contract with the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to improve water lines, fencing, and wells on his farm.

Holden had already spent $80,000 on materials and labor when USDA officials recently informed him that his contract was now frozen, and it remains unclear when—if ever—the funds will be released.

"I've already done a bunch of the work, already paid for the material and the labor, so I'm out all that cost," he said. "We are possibly going to lose our farm if NRCS doesn't hold up their contract with us."

The current USDA freeze under Trump's leadership has left many disillusioned, including Holden, who has faced criticism after sharing his story on TikTok, with many telling him he "got exactly what he voted for."

When Holden admitted that he relied on a 25-question online quiz to tell him how to vote—rather than researching the candidate's policies himself—many commenters vehemently condemned his lack of political awareness.




Holden defended his thought process in trusting the quiz and voting for Trump, explaining that his 17-hour workdays leave little time for political research. He argued that neither party fully aligns with farmers' interests, pointing out that while Democrats push for electronic ID tags for cattle, Republicans generally oppose farm subsidies.

"You have to balance out what interests you support, what interests you don't," he reasoned, acknowledging he disagreed with a number of Trump's policies. "You make that vote and then you fight against the things that you feel passionate about, that you think your candidate is doing wrong."

Despite the backlash, Holden expressed gratitude for those who engaged respectfully. "I really appreciate the people in my messages that are having constructive conversations with me," he said. "A lot of people have opened my eyes to other issues that I don't pay attention to...because it doesn't affect me. Now, that's wrong...I haven't been paying attention...and I'm having those constructive conversations now."

Meanwhile, the USDA has stated that it will provide more information on the status of its programs once Brooke Rollins, Trump's nominee to lead the agency, is confirmed by the Senate.

As Holden continues to fight for his farm's survival, his story highlights the real-world consequences of government policy shifts, and the challenges of civic engagement in a polarizing political climate.
 

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353

Aaron Pape standing in a snowy field with some of his cattle.


“This isn’t just hippie-dippy stuff,” said Aaron Pape, who raises cattle, pigs and poultry on 300 acres in Wisconsin. “This is affecting mainstream farmers.”Credit...Narayon Mahon for The New York Times

Skip to contentSkip to site index



Trump’s Funding Freezes Bruise a Core Constituency: Farmers​


A rapid-fire array of directives by the Trump administration have left farmers and businesses in rural America reeling.

“This isn’t just hippie-dippy stuff,” said Aaron Pape, who raises cattle, pigs and poultry on 300 acres in Wisconsin. “This is affecting mainstream farmers.”Credit...Narayon Mahon for The New York Times

By Linda Qiu and Julie Creswell

Linda Qiu and Julie Creswell talked to more than three dozen farmers, current and former Agriculture Department employees, representatives of farm and industry groups, experts and researchers for this article.

  • Published Feb. 13, 2025Updated Feb. 18, 2025

Skylar Holden, a cattle rancher in Missouri, had signed a $240,000 cost-sharing contract with the Agriculture Department to add fencing and improve the watering system for his property. But after the Trump administration abruptly froze federal funding, Mr. Holden said, he was suddenly out tens of thousands of dollars and on the hook for tens of thousands more in labor and material costs, and risked losing his farm.

“Whenever my farm payment comes due, there’s a good chance that I’m not going to be able to pay it,” he said in an interview.

Mr. Holden’s situation underlines the potentially precarious position of farmers across the country, as a rapid-fire array of directives by the Trump administration have paused federal funding on a range of programs and grants. Even as courts have halted many of the orders, rural communities are reeling from the effects, setting off confusion and panic among one of President Trump’s core constituencies.

Billions of dollars in funding are at stake. One executive order targets the Inflation Reduction Act, including money for farmers to conserve soil and water and to complete energy projects. Other directives touch on grants to states and producers. Another, which froze U.S. foreign aid spending, temporarily left hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food and supplies sitting in ports and has stopped future purchases of grains and goods.

Farmers, who voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Trump, have already had a tough stretch. In the last two years, falling prices for corn, soybeans and wheat from 2022 high levels have resulted in declines in net farm income. While that figure is projected to rise sharply this year, largely because of government farm payments, the administration’s high-speed policymaking has left many farmers and some agribusinesses wary.

“Farmers don’t need any more uncertainty than they already have,” said Nick Levendofsky, the executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union, which represents about 4,000 farms in the state, most of which are family-owned.

Direct payments to farmers are in peril.​


Shortly after being inaugurated, Mr. Trump ordered an indefinite pause on funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s signature climate and domestic spending law. Though a federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the funds, it is unclear when and whether it will follow suit.

Asked if it would release the money, the Agriculture Department did not directly respond, saying only that it had ordered “a comprehensive review” of its contracts, work and personnel. Agency employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said that funding had not been released.

If funds remain frozen, that could affect more than 25,000 conservation contracts worth $1.8 billion funded by the climate change law, potentially involving thousands of farmers nationwide.


The contracts, typically cost-sharing arrangements reached with the Agriculture Department, are enormously popular, with demand exceeding the amount of money available. Under the contract, farmers, ranchers and landowners are reimbursed for practices that help conserve and protect soil, water and the environment. But the funding has become a prime target for the Trump administration because of its connection to Mr. Biden and its focus on climate.

Image

Aaron Pape pushing a large hay bale in front of a tractor in a snowy field on his farm.


Mr. Pape, who is owed $30,000 for a fencing and water management contract frozen under the directive, said he may be forced to take on additional loans to cover his costs.Credit...Narayan Mahon for The New York Times

“This isn’t just hippie-dippy stuff,” said Aaron Pape, who raises cattle, pigs and poultry on 300 acres in Wisconsin. “This is affecting mainstream farmers.”

Mr. Pape, who is owed $30,000 for a fencing and water management contract frozen under the directive, said he may be forced to take on additional loans to cover his costs. While he did not vote for Mr. Trump, Mr. Pape said he hoped the president understood that farmers were “the constituency that put you in power and the actions you are taking are having serious, immediate ramifications for our livelihood.”

More than a dozen farmers and ranchers told The New York Times that the tumult had made it more difficult to plan for the year, affecting decisions on seed and equipment purchases. Many expressed worry that the administration could again pause future payments with little warning or take aim at other programs like disaster relief payments and crop insurance, resulting in untold consequences for the food supply.

The climate change law also provided about $1.7 billion to shore up an Agriculture Department program for rural energy grants. As with conservation programs, grantees receive reimbursement for projects. The halt, ordered under the directive titled “Unleashing American Energy,” has left potentially thousands of grantees in limbo or footing the bill.
 

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353
Adam Greene, who raises sheep in a remote area of Washington State, received two grants worth about $33,000 to install solar panels and a heat pump on his farm, where fuel is expensive and the supply is unreliable. To cover the upfront costs, Mr. Greene took out a loan, intending to pay it off when he received reimbursement. Those plans, and hopes of expanding his operation, are now on hold.

Like all the farmers who spoke with The Times, Mr. Greene emphasized that while he did not blame Agriculture Department employees, he was more hesitant to work with the federal government again.

Trump Administration: Live Updates


Updated

Feb. 15, 2025, 12:26 a.m. ETFeb. 15, 2025


“These are commitments that the federal government has made to farmers that we’re depending on,” he said. “If you want to change policy, change policy, but just don’t go and blow stuff up.”

Mr. Trump has also paused payments made by the Commodity Credit Corporation, a pot of money his first administration used to pay farmers suffering financially from retaliatory tariffs and the Biden administration used to incentivize climate-friendly agricultural practices. It is unclear how much of the funding has been frozen; the Iowa Soybean Association said recently that its members were owed $11 million in reimbursement through that program alone.

Adding to the confusion, some farmers reported that grants for marketing their products or buying equipment for distribution were also halted, though those programs are not funded with Inflation Reduction Act dollars. It was not immediately clear what directives were causing the issues.

Image

Solar panels on the roof of a farm building with trucks and other farm machinery parked nearby.


Solar panels in Becker, Minn. The Inflation Reduction Act provided $1.7 billion to shore up an existing Agriculture Department program for rural energy grants.Credit...Tim Gruber for The New York Times

Tom Smude, who operates a seed processing business in Pierz, Minn., recently learned that his $530,000 grant, funded by the state through the American Rescue Plan, was also paused.

Mr. Smude took out a bank loan to afford a down payment for equipment that could more efficiently mill sunflower seeds, expecting the grant to cover three-quarters of the cost. But when the equipment arrives, he will have no way of paying for it.

Though Mr. Smude said he shared Mr. Trump’s belief in cutting government spending, he expressed confusion about the president’s priorities.

“It’s what he wants, growth in industry and keep America going,” he said. “I feel like I’m doing my part and now you’re going against what you said, a little bit.”

For his part, Mr. Holden does not blame Mr. Trump, nor would he change his vote in the presidential election.

But as a first-time grantee, Mr. Holden said he regretted having promoted the conservation programs on his popular TikTok account, vowing to “never do anything with any government agency ever again.”

The halt to international aid extends to commodity producers.​


The move to effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development and place the bulk of its staff on leave has left $489 million of food assistance languishing at docks, in warehouses and in transit at risk of spoilage. Last weekend, Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas, and others scrambled to find other nonprofit organizations to oversee the logistics.

But future humanitarian purchases of grains and other foods grown in the United States are unclear. U.S.A.I.D. buys about $2 billion from farmers a year, and 41 percent of its food assistance shipped abroad is grown domestically, according to a 2021 report. The agency estimated that it purchased 1.1 million metric tons of food from farmers and ranchers in 2023. Some 430 large-scale farmers growing crops in nearly every state fulfilled direct orders from the agency, data compiled by a U.S.A.I.D. employee and shared with The Times shows.

The agency bought 161,000 metric tons of American-grown rice for $126 million last year, according to Michael Klein, a spokesman for USA Rice.

Image

Large piles of bags labeled ‘Donación’ are stacked in a warehouse.


Bags donated by U.S.A.I.D. containing rice and other provisions for families in Venezuela sit in Colombia awaiting distribution. The agency purchases roughly $2 billion from American farmers annually.Credit...Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Likewise, the Agriculture Department’s Food for Progress program had purchased as much as one million metric tons of wheat in recent years to distribute to those in need overseas, according to U.S. Wheat Associates, a lobbyist organization for the wheat industry.

While that is only a sliver of the annual U.S. wheat production, the program has the additional benefit of promoting American wheat in foreign markets, said Steven Mercer, a spokesman for U.S. Wheat Associates.

Ending millions of dollars in grants by U.S.A.I.D. also resulted in the potential closing of research programs at universities across the country. The University of Nebraska, for instance, had a five-year, $19 million grant to develop irrigation techniques in developing nations. Funding for that and other grants has been either terminated or sharply reduced, putting the research in jeopardy.

“We are very, very large beneficiaries of government contracts,” said Dr. Jeffrey Gold, the president of the University of Nebraska, saying that the consequences of such pauses in funding were more far-ranging than many would believe. Elected officials, he added, should “understand that public land-grant institutions like us are being directly and significantly impacted by these changes.”

Some of the ramifications have been averted, for now. In moving to shut U.S.A.I.D., the Trump administration also issued, and then rescinded, stop-work orders to some American manufacturers of food sent abroad.

One nonprofit in Georgia, Mana, produces ready-to-use therapeutic food to address childhood malnutrition. It buys about two million pounds of peanuts monthly from American farmers, according to Mana’s chief executive, Mark Moore.

About $12 million worth of Mana’s products — 300,000 boxes, each containing 150 sachets of food to treat severe malnutrition for six weeks — is waiting to leave the Port of Savannah. Mr. Moore did not expect this particular shipment to be delayed, but he was also uncertain whether U.S.A.I.D. would foot the bill or if it would deliver future shipments.

“The real impact of the shutdown will happen a month from now, six weeks from now, when the supply chain begins to crumble, which by that time, will it still be a story?” he asked.
 

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353

Well without farm subsidies not many will plant crops this spring. Won’t take long for things to get ugly when the food runs out
 

mc_brew

#NotMyPresident
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
5,646
Reputation
2,531
Daps
19,306
Reppin
the black cat is my crown...
if only hillary didn't have those buttery males and if only kamala was actually black then all of this could have been prevented.... the good news is we dodged a major bullet by not having an open border democrat running the show... and as an added bonus, we got our racism out in the open... cheers

768695_poster.jpg
 
Last edited:

bnew

Veteran
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Messages
64,002
Reputation
9,809
Daps
174,353
A farming county that voted just shy of 70% for trump loses its farm services center, which connected farmers with government programs. This is right before planting season begins.

wk44im8l83me1.png

Saving $278k in real estate costs, loses the community millions in aid. That’s just MAGA Math

It's estimated Trump's golf trips have cost taxpayers $20 million already. That money needs to come from somewhere /s

Here is a great Trump Golf Track.
 
Top