The ubiquitous internet is rife with “pundits” and “experts” of every stripe opining on the outcome of this fall’s presidential election and what policies either the septuagenarian or the octogenarian candidate will enact during the ensuing four years. I have tried to avoid the truculence and hyperbole of both viable candidates in my comparison below and ask for your consideration and comment.

For my juxtaposition, I have left out pseudo candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and concentrated on the two major party standard bearers—Trump and Biden—due principally to Kennedy’s prior involvement in the Waterkeeper Alliance, which has distilled and distanced itself from the ag community. Plus, his candidacy, while confrontational and possibly impactful to either or both of the two leading contenders, is probably destined for the dust heap of past third-party aspirants who may garner attention with their bluster but gain little traction.

As a portend of the future, my comparison reviews some of the agriculture policies of the two major candidates based on their previous ag proposals and enactments.

Does this ag policy juxtaposition boil down to just two issues—Biden advocating climate change and Trump advocating fewer regulations? It may. However, my research reveals much more. Both candidates have implemented executive orders and proposed legislation that dive deep into ag industry regulations that have or will directly affect the future of the farm-to-table meat and poultry industry.

Listed here are just a smattering of the ag industry policies proposed by both candidates although each has proposed and implemented many more:

Biden:

1. Inflation Reduction Act. This act has many facets and programs affecting both society in general and the ag industry specifically. Principally, it is, in part, a catch-all to fund programs that could change the climate as we currently experience it—with a projected $240 billion price tag in new clean energy manufacturing investments. Its goals:

a. Cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane from belching cows, up to 41% below 2005 levels by 2030.

b. Triple Electric Vehicle sales cutting down fossil fuel production and use for both family cars and long-haul transportation vehicles to boost clean energy.

c. Restore and protect our nation’s lands and waters with $2 billion invested through the BLM, National Park Service. US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Wildlife Refuge System.

d. Fund clean energy and build production capacity by providing agricultural producers $1.3 billion in financing in the form of grants and low interest loans.

2. The Future of Bidenomics. Bidenomics is a euphemistic vision for growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up by investing in America creating good-paying union jobs and lowering cost for American families by:

a. Lowering health care costs.

b. Reinvesting in essential rural infrastructure.

c. Ensuring fair access to capital and other tools and opportunities for rural families; and

d. Reining in corporate monopolies to promote real competition and protect small businesses, family farmers, and workers from predatory and anti-competitive behavior.

Trump:

1. First term. Trump’s ag agenda focused primarily around regulation reduction and increasing aid to commodity farmers.

a. Trump used tariffs to start a trade war with China resulting in a 63% reduction of US agricultural exports to China.

b. In 2019 and 2020, more than 40% of farm incomes came from federal assistance almost exclusively benefitting the largest farms and agriculture companies.

c. In 2017, Trump dissolved the cattle industry watchdog, GIPSA.

d. The Trump administration rolled back environmental protections and ramped up fossil fuel development.

e. Through Trump’s jawboning negotiations, China lifted its ban on poultry and opened its market to beef; the EU agreed to increase beef imports by 180%; and South Korea lifted its ban on poultry and eggs.

2. Future policies. The USDA under Trump would move away from Biden’s focus on reducing GHG emissions in the ag sector and incentivize rural communities to adopt greener energy sources.

In the final analysis, it is speculated that it will take years to fully realize any benefits or detriments of either Biden’s or Trump’s future ag policies. However, the popularity of any new programs from either candidate will probably be judged by the immediacy of their impact pro or con rather than their projected long-term economic effect.

In 166 days, we will be electing our next president. Choose wisely, my friends.

Biden vs. Trump: Future Ag Policies

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