Since the day I was born in 1956, aside from the 18 years I served in the U.S. Senate, I’ve lived solely on my family’s farm in Big Sandy, Montana. Being a farmer is the best job I’ve ever had, but I have a dire warning for this country: Family farms are in trouble, and that translates to even bigger trouble for the rest of America.
When my folks turned our third-generation farm over to me and my wife, they told us never to depend on federal subsidies to make the books balanced because you simply can’t depend on the help to be there. But news reports suggest that Trump is considering giving money to farmers intended to help them offset the damage his policies have caused.
Family farms are in trouble, and that translates to even bigger trouble for the rest of America.
American farmers are the backbone of this country, but farming is taking hits on multiple fronts. At this moment, prices at the farm gate are far below the cost of production. Input costs are as high as ever, and new farm equipment is flat-out too expensive for most family farm operations to purchase. Translation: Farmers are taking a huge loss. To understand why, we can look squarely at tariffs.
For example, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, China bought $12 billion worth of American soybean products over the last calendar year, but after Trump’s tariffs, the country that was the biggest purchaser of U.S. soybeans hasn’t bought during this year’s harvest season. And China has said it will not resume purchases of U.S. soybeans until Trump lifts more tariffs.
While soybeans have gotten most of the attention, Trump’s tariffs affect nearly every food product American farmers raise.
Despite a dizzying amount of disinformation coming from the White House that suggests that exporting countries pay the costs of tariffs, it doesn’t take a Wall Street wizard to discern that it’s you, the consumer, footing Donald Trump’s extra tax on imported goods. That means increased costs for everything we buy — from clothes to food to combine parts. Farmers rely on imported parts to repair farming equipment because domestically manufactured parts are often too expensive or simply not available.
That’s just the beginning of the tariff domino effect on production agriculture. This administration’s trade policies screw up the markets that pay farmers for the food they grow. Family farmers in this country have consistently produced far more food than its people consume, which means family farmers depend on export markets to be profitable.
For what we do sell, there’s no other choice than to have a competitive market with strong demand so that we get a fair price at the farm gate for the food we grow. As prices turn downward because of these tariffs, it keeps profitability out of reach. The bottom line? It’s costing us more to plant, grow and harvest than we are getting in return. Unless the U.S. gets those foreign markets back, rural America will be further decimated.
This horrible trade policy is going to make rural America poorer and less populated. Combine these tariffs with the elimination of federal support for rural health care (see what Trump called his “Big, Beautiful Bill”) and we have a recipe for the total annihilation of rural America. The combination of these policies not only gambles with our national food security, it’s a threat to our existence. It’s pretty difficult to sustain this country’s democracy when its people are starving. The Trump administration’s solution is to write checks to the farmers paid for by the American taxpayer, increasing the debt. According to multiple news sources, he is reportedly considering a bail out of at least $10 billion to farmers. That’s socialism, folks. I have always believed that farmers would rather get their paycheck from the marketplace, not the government. For a party that continues to stoke fears over the “radical left,” it’s enraging to this farmer that they’re literally pushing socialism on us to make up for their bad trade policies. The call is coming from inside the house. I have always believed that farmers would rather get their paycheck from the marketplace, not the government. The other sad reality here is that Congress continues to be absent. Our Constitution, the document that so may have performatively wrapped themselves in, is clear that the application of tariffs is the job of the legislative branch. Are we seeing congressional oversight in the form of hearings? No. Has Congress attempted to take back its authority as it applies to tariffs? Nope. How about the checks and balances that our Constitution requires? With this Congress, they simply don’t exist. We only hear a few whimpers from Congress while this administration leads production agriculture and rural America to the slaughter house. What needs to be done? First, members of Congress need to get off their asses and remember what it means to be the Article One body that the Constitution dictates. Second, the president needs to understand that healthy foreign markets go hand in hand with profitability in production agriculture. It’s time for him to let go of the tariff fantasy. Right now, the only ones benefiting from this failed policy are our competitors, including China. If these simple actions are taken, then I believe America will stay the economic leader of the world. If not, then we can look forward to third world status.
Jon Tester
Former Sen. Jon Tester represented Montana from 2007 to 2025 in the United States Senate. A Democrat and lifelong farmer, Tester is also currently a MSNBC political analyst. 
