Farmers have long been among Donald Trump’s strongest supporters, but many now fear they could suffer more than any other group under his latest tariff strategy. Even with the administration pausing some of the larger proposed tariffs, a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on imports from roughly 60 countries remains in place. Trump exempted fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, but agricultural producers worry that foreign governments will respond by targeting American farm exports.
For North Carolina beekeeper Jim Hartman, the concern goes far beyond retaliatory tariffs. Hartman, who produces raw honey, said he recently lost a $150,000 federal contract that supplied his honey to schools and food banks. The program was cut as part of the administration’s efforts to restrain federal spending.
“For a lot of other local farmers around here, it was a major source of reliable revenue,” Hartman told CNN. “For me, it’s going to cost me $150,000 a year.”
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That amounts to about half of his yearly income. On top of that, he expects the tariffs to drive up his costs further. Packaging materials alone will cost him an extra five to six thousand dollars. With margins shrinking fast, he said he can’t replace aging equipment and has no plans to add new workers.
“We’re not going to hire any more people, that’s for sure,” he said.
During Trump’s first term, the federal government provided bailout funds to farmers hurt by earlier, smaller tariffs. Those payments helped soften the blow, but the fund is now nearly empty and won’t be replenished for months. It remains unclear how much money, if any, will be available if farmers take another major hit.
“There’s just not the room for maneuver in the federal budget to do [bailouts],” said Christopher Barrett, a Cornell University economist. “COVID and the first Trump administration’s tax cuts combined wrecked the [federal] budget.”
Experts warn that the damage this time could be far more severe. Inflation has already driven up prices for seed, fertilizer, and equipment, while major crop prices have dropped sharply. Soybeans and corn, two critical U.S. exports, are down about 40 percent since 2022. Farmers say they’re being squeezed from every direction.
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“We have an example of what happened in the past, and it’s a very similar situation, except the farm economy at that time was much stronger than it is now,” said Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association and a Kentucky farmer, told Politico. “We don’t have any margin for error. … We’re going to lose a generation of young farmers.”
Despite the risks, the Trump administration is trying to show farmers it’s working on new opportunities. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced a series of trade missions aimed at expanding export markets in six countries, including India and the United Kingdom, both now facing tariff increases.
On Thursday, Rollins acknowledged that USDA is “setting up the infrastructure” to help farmers weather potential short-term economic shocks. But for many growers, including Hartman, the uncertainty is taking a toll.
Asked whether he would vote differently if he had the chance, Hartman, who has voted for Trump three times, paused. “Perhaps I should’ve considered other options,” he said.
“I never thought I was going to lose this much money this fast,” he added.
Even the temporary tariff pause hasn’t eased his anxiety.
“It’s flip-flopped so many times you can’t take it to the bank,” Hartman said. “Who knows what it will be next week?”
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