How Trump’s Policies Have Screwed American Farmers
How a Perfect Storm of Tariffs, Chaos, and Empty Promises Gutted the Family Farm.
How Trump’s Policies Have Screwed American Farmers
How a Perfect Storm of Tariffs, Chaos, and Empty Promises Gutted the Family Farm.
The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #682: Tuesday, December 9th, 2025.
If you want to understand how power works in America, don’t watch what politicians say…watch who’s bleeding while the cameras roll.
And in December 2025, no group is bleeding more quietly and predictably than…
American farmers.
Because despite the slogans…the rallies…and the endless branding…Trump’s policies aren’t relics of the past.
Their ripple effects…are still hitting rural America right now…shaping commodity prices…export markets…labor availability…and the fate of every family farm still fighting to stay alive.
This isn’t about hating a politician.
This is about telling the truth while the damage is still unfolding.
Trump didn’t just hurt American agriculture.
He rewired it…and not for the better.
And farmers are still paying the price…today.
1. The Trade War Fallout: The Wound That Still Isn’t Healing
Trump sold the trade war as a “tough negotiation.”
But in 2025, farmers still live with its consequences every single day.
China’s retaliatory tariffs didn’t just dent the market…they permanently redirected it. Even now:
Brazil continues dominating soybean exports to China
U.S. farmers remain stuck with weaker bargaining power
Lost market share has not returned
Global buyers have diversified to avoid relying on American supply ever again
Commodity prices today…still reflect the long-term instability Trump triggered years earlier. The markets farmers once considered reliable…have shifted under their feet.
And the Trump-era bailouts?
They didn’t rebuild anything.
They didn’t restore relationships.
They didn’t reopen markets.
They acted as Band-Aids…for wounds that are still bleeding.
Farmers in 2025 are trying to compete in a world Trump reshaped…and not in their favor.
2. The Ongoing Labor Crisis: A Disaster Still Unfolding
Farm labor is not a problem of the past…it is today’s crisis.
Trump’s hardline immigration stance continues fueling:
severe labor shortages
skyrocketing wages that family farms can’t absorb
seasonal unpredictability
unharvested crops
mounting pressure to automate faster than financially realistic
The H-2A program remains overloaded…paperwork-heavy…and increasingly expensive…the direct consequences of Trump-era policies…that tightened restrictions without offering real alternatives.
American farms in 2025 are fighting to survive without the workforce they need…
and Trump’s rhetoric still shapes the political climate preventing meaningful reform.
Farmers aren’t waiting on history to change.
They’re waiting on today’s labor policies to stop strangling them.
3. Consolidation Is Worse Now Than Ever; And Trump Helped Light the Fuse
Agricultural mega-corporations didn’t slow down after Trump left office.
They’re accelerating their consolidation right now…empowered by:
weakened antitrust enforcement under Trump
market structures that still favor large processors
supply chains increasingly controlled by a handful of giants
In beef…pork…poultry…grains…and seeds…farmers are negotiating with corporations that have more leverage today than they did five years ago.
The lack of antitrust action during the Trump years isn’t a historical footnote…it’s a current condition. Farmers in 2025 still operate within the power imbalances cemented during that administration.
And every year, more small farms disappear.
Trump didn’t solve consolidation.
He helped normalize it.
Farmers are living with the consequences today.
4. Subsidy Dependency: The Trap That’s Still Tightening
Farmers today are more dependent on government payments than ever…because Trump never restored the markets his policies broke.
Instead, he shifted agriculture into a new…dangerous equilibrium:
Less stability.
More volatility.
More political dependency.
Even in 2025:
Insurance payments and disaster relief are rising
Market distortions created during the trade war haven’t corrected
Large agribusinesses still capture the bulk of subsidy dollars
Small operations remain financially fragile
The Trump-era mentality of “break the system, then pay people for the damage” didn’t disappear. It became part of the political DNA of American agriculture.
And farmers today know:
If markets fail again…the safety net is neither reliable nor fair.
5. Rural America in 2025: Still Paying the Price
The wounds Trump created in rural America aren’t historic…they’re visible right now:
Farm bankruptcies in many states are still elevated
Farm suicides remain a crisis
Input costs (equipment, fertilizer, fuel) are crushing margins
Land is increasingly swallowed by corporate operators
Young farmers still struggle to enter the industry
These trends aren’t locked in the past.
They’re shaping the agricultural landscape today…in real time.
The uncertainty Trump introduced into markets hasn’t disappeared. Markets have memory. Buyers have memory. International partners have memory.
Farmers in 2025…are still trying to rebuild trust and reliability…in a global system Trump destabilized.
6. The Branding of a Savior: Still Powerful, Still Misleading
Trump’s political brand in rural America is still strong in 2025. But the facts on the ground remain unchanged:
He didn’t fix agriculture.
He fractured it.
The marketing machine continues telling farmers:
China was the problem
The media is lying
Bailouts were proof of loyalty
Trade wars were “necessary”
Anyone questioning the narrative is “against rural America”
But branding doesn’t stabilize markets.
Slogans don’t replace labor.
Bailouts don’t rebuild lost export relationships.
The political story is still being sold.
The economic reality is still being lived.
And farmers in 2025…are caught in the gap between the two.
7. The Bottom Line for 2025: The Damage Isn’t Over
This isn’t postmortem analysis.
This is current agricultural reality.
Trump’s policies continue shaping:
global trade patterns
domestic labor availability
market consolidation
export competitiveness
financial vulnerability
the political language used to discuss farming
Farmers today aren’t recovering from an old wound.
They’re navigating a wound that never closed.
American agriculture in 2025 is still defined by:
the instability Trump introduced
the markets he fractured
the dependencies he expanded
the corporate power he strengthened
the political messaging he perfected
Farmers deserve honesty about what’s happening…not nostalgia…not slogans…and certainly not revisionist history.
They deserve leaders who understand…that agriculture isn’t a backdrop for rallies…but the backbone of the nation.
And they deserve policies…that strengthen the future…instead of trapping them in the consequences of the past.
2025 isn’t the aftermath.
It’s been the continuation.
#HoldFast
Back soon,
-Jack
"Land is increasingly swallowed by corporate operators." THIS right here is the most important point. When small farms fail, they can be gobbled up by massive agri-corpos for pennies on the dollar. This is an extremely profitable business exploit that benefits CEOs and private equity investors. In other words, it's just more of the same cronyism that is on full, unabashed display in everything Trump touches since he took office again. It's blatant, it's disgusting and eugenics continue to underlie the agenda. Survival of the fittest... means eenie meenie miney moe, you are NOT the one.
I see this agricultural disaster every day working with AZ farmers as they await the cuts in Colorado River water allotments because due to global climate change (the Orange Idiot will not acknowledge its existence) is drying up the Colorado River!!!