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Food and agriculture issues have emerged as central to party platforms in the 2024 election, with candidates in tight races focusing more on agricultural policy to gain ground in swing states and beyond.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have become more publicly engaged on agricultural policy, and both have chosen vice presidential candidates who can bolster their appeal among agriculture and rural communities.
Despite representing the nation’s largest agricultural state as California attorney general, Harris’ record on agricultural issues is lacking and she did not weigh in on state policies such as Proposition 12, which was passed by voters shortly after she left state office.
Trump, meanwhile, has a long and much more controversial agricultural record. As president, he launched a costly global trade war, rolled back environmental policies and cracked down on illegal immigration, including in the poultry sector. Trump’s second term will build on the former president’s efforts to campaign for expanded tariffs and broad deregulation.
Farm Dive used party platforms, questionnaires and more to take an in-depth look at where both candidates stand on the most important concerns in agriculture.
food price inflation
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Addressing high food prices is at the heart of Harris’ economic plan, and banning price gouging in the meat industry is emerging as one of her first major public policy proposals since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Harris pledged to pass the first federal legislation banning price gouging and issued a statement targeting the grocery, meat and poultry industries. She is also trying to address high consumer prices by increasing competition throughout the food system, and in her presidential questionnaire to the Farm Bureau, she said she would “crack down on unfair mergers and acquisitions involving big food corporations to create a level playing field.” “He said.
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Trump has repeatedly promised to reduce farm production costs, but he and his team have not provided details. The former president told the Farm Bureau he would “lower interest rates” and cut farm energy costs in half within his first year in office.
Trump also said he would roll back “all of the burdensome and costly Biden-Harris regulations that contribute to increased material costs,” without giving specifics.
Input costs have largely declined from their peak following the pandemic-induced price surge, but remain at historically high levels. In theory, lowering producer costs could also trickle down some of the savings to grocery store shoppers. But agricultural prices make up a small portion of consumers’ food costs.
Farm Labor and Immigration
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Applications for H-2A visas have surged throughout Biden and Harris’ terms. That’s because urgent labor shortages are forcing farms to recruit workers from outside the United States. Large farm groups have pushed back against the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to strengthen farmer rights and expand workplace protections, including heat safety.
In her response to Farm Bureau, Harris said her administration would focus on “improving our legal immigration system so it functions better for our economy, our farmers, and our workers.” The vice president added that any solution must include both “strong border security and a path to citizenship.”
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During his presidency, Trump oversaw a significant increase in raids on workplaces to detain and deport workers. In one of the largest raids in a decade, immigration agents arrested more than 650 people at seven poultry plants in Mississippi.
In the 2024 campaign cycle, Trump has stepped up his rhetoric on border controls, threatening “mass deportations” of millions of immigrants, including those who entered the U.S. legally under two Biden administration programs.
In his response to the Farm Bureau, Trump did not mention the H-2A visa program and said he would prioritize “skills-based immigration” and expand support for the domestic agricultural industry.
climate smart agriculture
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The Biden-Harris Administration has allocated an additional $20 billion under the Inflation Reduction for Climate Smart Farming Act, expanding opportunities for farmers to transition to more sustainable practices.
The Democratic platform released in August includes a commitment to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices to make the U.S. agricultural sector the first in the world to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
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Trump rolled back more than 100 rules aimed at protecting the environment during his time in office, some of which were rolled back under Biden.
Trump has vowed to roll back climate policies implemented during the Biden administration in his next term, arguing they have contributed to rising energy costs. President Trump told the Farm Bureau that climate change action must be driven by free markets: “Innovation and economic growth will allow us to take full advantage of technologies and processes that improve our environment, while also freeing up production from foreign polluters.” He said.
farm bills
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Harris has not taken a public position on the farm bill, but in her response to the Farm Bureau, her campaign said farm safety net programs like crop insurance are essential to “protect farmers from unexpected changes in circumstances.”
Harris’ vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, served six terms as a member of the House Agriculture Committee and helped author three farm bills. Walz and his experience in Congress representing rural areas “should be encouraging, especially to agricultural stakeholders,” Rod Snyder, a former senior agriculture adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency, said during a Farm Foundation presidential debate on farm policy.
Democrats oppose House Republicans’ farm bill plan, arguing it would overturn changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding formula that would increase support levels for 2021 participants.
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The Trump campaign said it supports improvements to reference pricing, crop insurance and dairy margin coverage at the Farm Bureau. The former president also supports more specialty crop insurance and investments in science and technology to “stay ahead of China.”
Trump did not explicitly support either version of the farm bill, but House Republicans are pushing a package that seeks to address budget constraints by cutting $30 billion from SNAP and increasing farm subsidies while eliminating funding protections for climate-smart agriculture. I did it.
Trade and Relations with China
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The Biden-Harris administration maintained the Section 301 tariffs imposed by President Trump on China, and recently took steps to increase tariffs on Chinese products to protect U.S. manufacturing.
“As President, she will not tolerate unfair trade practices by China or our competitors that undermine American farmers and ranchers,” her campaign wrote in a letter to the Farm Bureau.
As trade tensions cause China to shun U.S. raw materials, the Biden-Harris administration has encouraged producers to diversify their export markets to places like Europe and Africa. While targeted agreements have raised barriers to certain crops, agricultural groups have been pushing for more trade deals to offset losses from China.
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As president, Trump launched a trade war with China, sending agricultural exports plummeting and overseeing billions of dollars in controversial bailouts to offset those losses.
President Trump promised to take a tougher stance against China in his next term, including imposing tariffs of more than 60% on imported goods. He is also threatening to implement a blanket 10% tariff on all U.S. imports, weakening ties with traditional partners and potentially restarting a broader trade war.
Higher tariffs could erode farmers’ market opportunities as they continue to compete with low-cost goods from other countries. To address the potential loss of exports, Trump said during a campaign stop at a Pennsylvania farm that he would implement a trade deal that would see China roll back some tariffs in exchange for its purchase of $50 million in agricultural products.
Ethanol and biofuels
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The Biden-Harris administration has expanded ethanol opportunities to give corn producers more opportunities to cash in on the renewable energy transition.
Biden approved requests from eight major agricultural producing states to allow year-round sales of higher ethanol blend gasoline starting in 2025. The administration also opened the door for ethanol manufacturers to enter the lucrative sustainable aviation fuel market. The requirements to access the tax credit have faced some criticism.
Harris told the Farm Bureau she plans to build on biofuel opportunities and rural infrastructure investments in the sector under the Inflation Reduction Act. “I am committed to increasing quality job opportunities across rural America and using agriculture as a pivotal tool in that fight,” he said. Climate change.”
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President Trump completely lifted restrictions on E15 gasoline sales in 2019, but a court struck down the rule two years later. In his response to the Farm Bureau, President Trump promised to lower energy prices by eliminating regulations and increasing domestic production of oil, natural gas and coal.
Former President Lee said, “I will make it my mission not only to increase ethanol production in our country, but to export ethanol to the world.”
Accelerating Farm Innovation
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The Biden-Harris Administration has launched the first U.S. plan to expand biotechnology and biomanufacturing in 2022 as demand for bio-based products and fuels continues to grow.
Earlier this year, USDA released a roadmap to increase processing capacity for crop residues and other feedstocks. The department has invested $772 million in 2023 for research, development and expansion of biomanufacturing infrastructure.
In her response to the Farm Bureau, Harris touted investments made during the Biden administration, including increased funding for land-grant universities. However, she did not comment on any future proposals.
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Trump has portrayed regulation as a barrier to innovation, and during his presidency he streamlined the approval process for agricultural biotechnology, including gene editing. This move has raised concerns among some in the research community that it will make risk assessment of these new products more difficult.
The former president will continue to take aim at regulations in his next term, telling the Farm Bureau he will “remove the regulations that are stifling American agriculture and making everything more expensive.”
