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Anticipating President-elect Trump’s impression on agriculture in his first 100 days of workplace, trade consultants say they’re involved concerning the destiny of the Farm Invoice and the way the agriculture trade will maintain itself amid rising manufacturing prices, labor shortages, and hovering land prices.

Prematurely of the election, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), a nationwide lobbying and agriculture group positioning itself as “the voice of agriculture,” posted a questionnaire that includes Vice President Harris and President-Elect Trump.

In it, the candidates responded to key points, together with meals methods and farmer resiliency, worldwide commerce, tax coverage, agricultural labor, rural life and well being, amongst others.

“The American Farmer is important to our economic system and our lifestyle. We depend on our farmers, ranchers, and growers to make sure the security and safety of our meals provide,” Trump mentioned in response to AFBF’s questionnaire. “As president, I signed a large Farm Invoice that improved agriculture packages and elevated the sum of money that farmers can borrow. … As president I’ll assist entry and affordability to the chance administration instruments that had been part of the 2018 Farm Invoice I signed into legislation.”

The Farm Invoice is a bundle of laws reviewed roughly each 5 years since 1933. The invoice allocates spending to key areas, together with crop insurance coverage for farmers, vitamin, conservation and sustainability, and newbie farmer coaching, amongst different points.

Bailey Fisher is a Federal Affairs Specialist on the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB). Because the group’s principal lobbyist, Fisher is a liaison to AFBF and is liable for organizing grassroots lobbying efforts to implement nationwide coverage initiatives, analyze federal coverage and commodity market developments, and oversee farm labor and farm issues of safety.

“It’s actually troublesome to see a few of our members making an attempt to interrupt even,” Fisher mentioned, citing burdensome labor and enter prices and discovering inexpensive farmland as being a barrier for starting farmers and ranchers to enter the trade, paired with a labor scarcity because the rising common farmer age will increase and strikes towards getting older out of the trade. For Fisher, the Farm Invoice is a important precedence trying towards Trump’s first 100 days in workplace and transferring into the primary quarter of 2025.

The 2018 Farm Invoice signed by then-President Trump expired on Sept. 30, 2023. Upon its expiration, the Senate voted to go a Home invoice for a unbroken decision that may prolong the invoice via September 2024, giving Congress 10 months to go a brand new Farm Invoice. Because the deadline got here and went, Congress closed legislative periods transferring into recess and election season with no new Farm Invoice.

“If we finish the 118th [Congress] with no Farm Invoice, clearly that’s going to be our primary prime precedence till we will get that executed,” Fisher mentioned. “We had been speculated to have this in 2023. We kicked the can to 2024. Now it seems to be like we might kick the can to 2025. So based mostly on our economic system, based mostly on enter prices, numerous various factors, our farmers actually do want a Farm Invoice as quickly as attainable at this level. … I believe farmers are positively scared to see what 2025 has for them with no Farm Invoice.”

Dr. Mike Pressure, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture & Forestry, mentioned his workplace’s important priorities going into the primary quarter of 2025 are to “proceed successfully and effectively finishing up our mission to advertise, defend, and advance agriculture and forestry. Furthermore, we can be working diligently with our congressional delegation to go a Farm Invoice.”

At The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, a prime precedence is seeing extra rapid help upfront of the presidential transition with the passage of the FARM Act. Authored by Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), the Farmer Help and Income Mitigation Act of 2024 goals to offer “help to farmers when their income falls under the price of manufacturing because of circumstances past their management,” as said on Kelly’s web site. If handed, the FARM Act would supply rapid financial supplemental help to farmers inside 90 days of passage.

“You may have no matter commerce points sooner or later, [but] if our farmers are being instructed they aren’t going to get crop loans in 2025 as a result of there’s no assist … it doesn’t matter what occurs trade-wise,” mentioned Avery Davidson, Communications Director at The Louisiana Farm Bureau, attributing the present pressure to a “excellent storm” of points together with excessive land lease costs in locations like Northeast Louisiana and commodity costs being under the price of manufacturing.

“We’ve been asking our members to ship letters and emails to the members of congress, to induce them to go the FARM Act and to go a brand new Farm Invoice,” Davidson mentioned. “All of our focus is now on some type of supplemental help [to] assist [farmers] bridge the gaps.”

Allen Carter, President of the New Jersey Farm Bureau, is main the group to meet the priorities outlined on the New Jersey Farm Bureau 106th Annual Assembly held in November 2024. Representatives from counties throughout New Jersey gathered to outline its agenda for the approaching 12 months, with the highest three problem areas being farm viability, soil disturbance, and the suitable to farm.

“Former President Trump was very variety to the farmers. He favored the farmers. He was truly the primary president that got here to the American Farm Bureau convention three years in a row,” Carter mentioned, including to the emotions of his colleagues at different Farm Bureau associates. “The toughest factor proper now’s making an attempt to ensure the Farm Invoice will get via.”

In accordance with Carter, New Jersey has seen a rise in its variety of farms whereas the remainder of the nation has seen a median lower of seven% between the 2017 and 2023 census.

“We’re type of bucking the development,” Carter mentioned. “We’re not the massive farms, we’re small, however we’re creating these subsequent era farmers. … There are a number of packages on the market. And the Farm Invoice will assist subsidize a number of these packages to show these younger of us how to achieve success at farming as a result of it’s positively not getting simpler.”

However nationwide, advocacy extends past the passage of the Farm Invoice. Carter and his crew are “always watching what’s popping out of Washington” and speaking with different state farm bureaus.

“Over the previous 4 years, what I’m listening to from different state farms bureaus is that the commerce has obtained to get a bit of higher. It sort of feels like there’s a bit of little bit of a shortcoming there. We’re hoping that’s ironed out with the brand new administration,” Carter mentioned.

When requested about his plans for worldwide commerce, Trump instructed AFBF he goals to “knock down boundaries to American Farm merchandise,” and work to go the Trump Reciprocal Commerce Act, which might “enhance the tariff on any imported good from a 3rd nation to equal that imposed by the third nation in query on the identical good when imported from the US,” as reported by Reuters.

“Different international locations may have two decisions,” Trump said on his web site. “They’ll eliminate their tariffs on us, or they’ll pay us lots of of billions of {dollars}, and the US will make an absolute fortune.”

“There’s been a number of dialogue on what commerce will appear to be below President-elect Trump,” Fisher mentioned. “He’s positively mentioned specifics when it comes to tariffs and what he plans to do with sure international locations on the commerce entrance. However I believe till he’s sworn in, till he places these practices into place, it’s laborious for us to make official feedback or make positions. … We’ve positively had these conversations together with his transition crew on strategizing learn how to use tariffs.”

In New Jersey, Carter’s crew hopes to see Trump take steps towards regulatory reform.

“We’re always being instructed by elected officers that, ‘you understand, you guys are gonna have to provide twice as a lot meals as a result of the inhabitants is gonna develop X numbers by 2050.’ However then they go they usually take instruments out of our toolbox to have the ability to accomplish that,” Carter mentioned. “I’m hoping that with the administration there can be extra science-based rules quite than simply ‘I really feel this hurts XYZ, so let’s ban it.’”

When requested about regulatory reform by AFBF, Trump mentioned, “I’ll slash rules that stifle American agriculture and make every thing dearer. I’ll implement transparency and customary sense in rulemaking.”

“President Trump is a champion of the American farmer,” mentioned Pressure. “In his first time period, he labored tirelessly to make sure farmers may do their jobs with much less burdensome rules.”

In his response to AFBF upfront of the election, Trump mentioned it’s not sufficient to put money into the nation’s economic system and agriculture, “we should put money into our folks.”

“The labor scarcity in agriculture is extreme,” Fisher mentioned. “We’ve had this downside for many years now. It wasn’t simply when COVID began that our workforce was struggling. … We have to work out ways in which individuals are incentivized to go [into] ag and to work in our workforce. As a result of once more, it’s not probably the most interesting. It’s not probably the most soft workplace job that you would be able to get, but it surely’s a wanted job as a result of it feeds folks.”

When illustration at a state or federal stage adjustments, PFB goals to be proactive.

“Agriculture is a type of industries the place we’ve to get together with all people as a result of all people has to eat,” Fisher mentioned. “It’s not laborious to have a dialog with the legislator [when lobbying]. And that’s what we’ve been telling our members is that you really want to get on the market.”

PFB has already held briefings with PA’s two newly elected representatives — Congressman-elect Rob Bresnahan and Congressman-elect Ryan McKenzie.

“Having these conversations forward of time, we consider is extremely essential,” Fisher mentioned. “Ensuring they know who farm bureau is, how we may help them, what our priorities are, explaining how we’re actually one of many solely grassroots, actually grassroots organizations left. … That isn’t essentially particular to the presidential administration or the federal stage. … We’re doing the identical at our state stage as nicely.”

“Since 2020 and the pandemic, Individuals have come to higher perceive the place their groceries come from. That may be a good factor,” Pressure mentioned. “With every administration, there can be new insurance policies, new methods of doing enterprise, new folks in place. The underside line is all of us work along with a standard objective.”

Kylie Stoltzfus is a contributing author for Central Penn Enterprise Journal and Lehigh Valley Enterprise.