Farm Support Holds for Trump, but Biden May Find Inroads: End to Aid Payments in 2021 Could Cut Deeply into Incomes

by Ellyn Ferguson (Roll Call) ... Despite the mixed performance, Trump’s policies on trade, regulation and other areas maintained his popularity in rural and farm communities, winning their support in the Nov. 3 election.

Joe Biden nevertheless has a chance to do as president what he didn't manage as a candidate: make inroads by distinguishing his performance from Trump's in ways that are important to a rural constituency. He could, for example, give robust government backing to biofuels, an area where Trump waffled. Biden could deliver some agriculture sales abroad, reversing setbacks that followed Trump's trade wars and the economic slowdown from the pandemic.

Trump enjoyed a close relationship with farmers. He spoke to thousands of cheering members of the Farm Bureau at the organization’s annual January convention in 2018, 2019 and 2020. That attention helped Trump get praise and support for coming to agriculture's aid even when his policies created the need for the aid.

“President-elect Biden will set himself up well if he takes a chapter out of that playbook of giving attention to farmers while also creating a steady hand to bring some stability back to the markets, bringing some clarity of direction on climate change and farmers’ role in that,” National Farmers Union president Rob Larew said.

Larew said a Biden administration should engage swaths of agriculture — conventional, organic, small, large, specialty crop growers, livestock producers — as it develops policies.

“What is critical for the White House is that farmers have a key role. There are lots of different styles of agriculture that need to be part of the dialogue,” Larew said.

She said the administration has “an incredible opportunity” to increase manufacturing in rural areas and to boost biofuel use, build on agriculture’s role in sequestering carbon emissions in soil and to create revenue opportunities for farmers in renewable energy production. She also said Biden should expand agriculture markets beyond China and develop a "holistic approach to rural communities and just agriculture" with health care, education and small-business policies.

Biden's trade fate may depend on China.

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Biden could give unequivocal support to the ethanol industry, which uses about 40 percent of U.S. corn production. Trump allowed the sale of a 15 percent ethanol-85 percent gasoline blend year round, a move that corn farmers liked, but he also kept granting waivers to oil refiners, freeing them of the obligation to use ethanol.

Larew said a Biden administration needs to avoid the mixed messaging on ethanol and other biofuels.

“It’s one thing to hear 'I love ethanol' and 'I love corn farmers and everything you’re doing,' but that's not always translating out,” Larew said, referring to the Trump administration. “Biden during the campaign tried to play off of that and talked about not only his support for ethanol, but ways to be more consistent for increasing demand and for increasing access to all levels of ethanol.”

Farmers will be waiting to see what that means, Larew said. READ MORE

Biden to enlist Agriculture, Transportation agencies in climate fight (The Hill)

President Trump, Kansas farmers had your back. Don’t let the EPA destroy biofuel rules (Kansas City Star)

A New Alliance for Farming’s Climate Impact (Our Daily Planet)

US election casts shadow on farmer sentiment (Argus Media)

Grassley suggests moderate Democrats for next Agriculture secretary (The Hill)

A Fight Over Agriculture Secretary Could Decide the Direction of Hunger Policy: The delicate proxy clash has pitted Democrats eager to emphasize issues like hunger and nutrition against traditionalists who believe the department should represent rural America. (New York Times)

Excerpt from The Hill: Biden’s climate plan calls for harnessing the power of agriculture to capture and store carbon while innovating to reduce its own footprint. In the transportation sector, he’s called for a massive investment in transit and electric vehicle infrastructure to reduce reliance on gas-powered vehicles.

But some of Biden’s potential picks are already generating concern from left-leaning interest groups, particularly those that want the incoming administration to surpass former President Obama’s accomplishments by using the full force of the federal government to tackle climate change.

Among those considered to lead the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio.).

Fudge has been openly campaigning for the job, telling Politico earlier this month that she’s been “very, very loyal to the ticket” and encouraging the Biden administration to place Black leaders in roles beyond traditional posts like Housing and Urban Development secretary.

Heitkamp has been more circumspect but didn’t rule out interest. After losing reelection in 2018 after only one term, she formed the One Country Fund, a political action committee that seeks to bolster Democratic prospects in rural America, an area where Democrats have struggled to make inroads.

“Joe Biden has the opportunity to put together a Cabinet that reflects all parts of America, and I know what decision he makes is going to be the right one,” Heitkamp told The Hill.

“We all have to make America unified to work again, so I’m very, very excited about Joe Biden as our next president of the United States and for Kamala Harris as our next vice president.”

But her potential nomination for Agriculture secretary is already facing resistance from a host of left-leaning environmental and farmworker groups, hitting the former senator for her moderate voting record, acceptance of campaign contributions from large agribusiness and her overall environmental record. READ MORE