Op-Ed by Charles Herbster, Chair of Farmers and Ranchers for Trump and owner and CEO of Conklin, Co. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.
“The President’s team has negotiated more and improved trade deals by opening greater exports of beef to Europe. The Trump Administration has been responsible for freeing up other markets through trade deals with Argentina (pork), South Korea (rice and poultry), and Japan has cut tariffs by seven billion dollars. All these actions show the President’s deep commitment to farmers and ranchers. Many more arrangements will come in the President’s next four years in office.”
Make no mistake. I support President Donald J. Trump one hundred percent. I am a farmer. I raise corn, soybeans and dairy-quality alfalfa hay on my family farms in Falls City, Nebraska. I also raise Angus and Simmental cattle. I sell products to farmers and ranchers all over America and in 13 foreign countries. This President has done more for farmers and ranchers in just three years than any other president has in my lifetime.
I serve as the National Chairman of “Farmers and Ranchers for Trump” a coalition of agricultural professionals for the 2020 election cycle. I can say without qualification that agriculturalists throughout the nation continue to support this president in unprecedented numbers. As in 2016, rural voters will turn out in droves to re-elect President Donald J. Trump. Why do farmers and ranchers support our president? Let me tell you why.
We have been in trade wars around the globe for the past three decades and beyond. Since 2016, we had a candidate, and now a president, who has been willing to fight back against horrible trade arrangements. Since taking office, he has been relentless in getting America better trade deals with all our key trading partners. The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and China Phase I are already reaping huge dividends for farmers and ranchers across the United States.
The President’s team has negotiated more and improved trade deals by opening greater exports of beef to Europe. The Trump Administration has been responsible for freeing up other markets through trade deals with Argentina (pork), South Korea (rice and poultry), and Japan has cut tariffs by seven billion dollars. All these actions show the President’s deep commitment to farmers and ranchers. Many more arrangements will come in the President’s next four years in office.
President Trump has kept his promise in building an “all the above” approach to energy independence in the United States. One of the key elements of that approach is expanding the use of E15 ethanol and biofuels and sticking to renewable volume obligations year after year. This helps our grain growers and to diversity our national energy needs which continue to be more diverse than before President Trump took office.
The Trump administration, through its breathtaking deregulation efforts, have done more for farmers and ranchers than any other administration in recent history. First and foremost was the administration’s dismantling of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) regulation that was unfairly taking land away from agricultural producers. The administration of the protocols of WOTUS were applied arbitrarily and capriciously. That has changed under the Trump Presidency.
Another factor that has helped farmers and ranchers has been the tax reforms shepherded into law. The income tax reforms put more cash in agriculture producers’ wallets. Further, changing the estate tax (death tax) allows family farms to be kept--in the family. Even during the Coronavirus disruption to the economy, farmers and ranchers rest a little easier each night knowing they are protected by the aforementioned legislation.
The Trump Administration has given an unprecedented resurgence in farm income. That income has increased by thirty-three percent since 2016. In the preceding four years—the last four years of the Obama Administration—farm income fell fifty-six percent. Even in tough times, the Trump Administration is stabilizing the economy for everyone but especially for farmers and ranchers.
President Trump has a lot to be proud of in making and keeping promises. No politician has been so bold, courageous or as forthright in wanting to drain the DC Swamp. He has kept his word to farmers and ranchers. That is why agriculture producers will continue to support his re-election and future presidency.
Residents of the United States need to remember that the agriculture industry may only be two percent of the economy, but one hundred percent of the people in the United States and many people of the world depend on that two percent to produce safe and affordable food. There will be nine and a half billion people on the earth in 2050, just thirty years away. The world will need every single one of America’s farmers and ranchers to stay fed.
Yes, I am all in for President Donald J. Trump. America’s farmers and ranchers are all in for President Donald J.Trump. Let’s help Keep America Great.
