Author :
Karen Perry Stillerman
Category :

What a Second Trump Administration Means for Food and Farms

   

 The Equation Read More [[{“value”:”

Read what UCS experts expect from the second Trump administration on climate and energy, global security, science and democracy, transportation, and engaging with states.

This is the worst kind of déjà vu.

I was working on food and agriculture policy here at the Union of Concerned Scientists back when Donald Trump assumed the presidency and began blowing up the federal government in 2017. I expect more of the same (and worse) this time around. And while attention has rightfully been focused on candidate Trump’s threats to immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, women’s health, climate action, science-based policymaking, the rule of law, and the democratic process, his return to power also promises to wreak havoc on our food system.

We don’t have to look very hard to find clues to what Trump-ifying the farm and food sectors would look like. We’ve seen this movie before, and I wrote a whole report documenting how, in just the first year of his first administration, President Trump’s US Department of Agriculture (USDA) sidelined science, undermined key public health and safety protections, and prioritized the interests of large agribusiness companies over the public interest, betraying farmers, consumers, and rural communities.

But now there’s also Project 2025, which (despite the candidate’s denials) was authored by Trump insiders and is widely believed to be a blueprint for his next administration. Taken together, the signposts point to these likely outcomes:

Before President-elect Trump even takes office, the outgoing Biden administration should shore up the USDA, its staff and scientists, and the myriad programs they administer that are making people’s lives better. At UCS, we’ll be pressing President Biden and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to

  • Secure and quickly distribute funding for the administration’s climate-focused conservation investments and policies. Despite efforts in Congress to claw back this funding, the USDA has spent a substantial portion of the nearly $20 billion in conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (including nearly all the dollars allocated to the highly effective Conservation Stewardship Program in fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024). Secretary Vilsack’s USDA should move quickly to get as much remaining funding as possible out the door before January 20. And they should do everything they can to make sure that members of Congress, the new administration, and the public understand these investments have been good for farmers and our future and shouldn’t be undermined.
  • Fulfill USDA’s commitment to end discrimination and promote equity. While Secretary Vilsack has made progress on this front, there is much more to do. The USDA Equity Commission’s February 2024 recommendations provide the roadmap, and the department should fulfill as many of them as it can before the end of the Biden administration. Creating an Office of Small Farms is one good place to devote energy before the change of administration.

President-elect Trump has promised to fire government scientists and dismantle science agencies; this matters because when science is sidelined people get hurt. In his first term, his administration made multiple attempts to muzzle USDA scientists and science agencies. Science is key to good policymaking for agriculture, food systems, and rural development, and the first Trump administration did serious damage to the USDA’s science agencies with a forced relocation of staff at the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture that caused substantial brain drain.

President-elect Trump has a well-documented aversion to science, and on the campaign trail this fall he called federal employees “crooked people” who are “destroying this country,” so you can bet his next administration will look for ways to remove more of them from the USDA and other agencies.

President Biden has been working to shore up the federal workforce to prevent civil servants from mass firing. There may not be much more that his administration can do, but they should explore all options to protect scientists and staff at the USDA and across the government.

When President-elect Trump takes office in January, UCS will be ready on day 1 to expose his attacks and defend science. Attacks on scientists are almost always attacks designed to benefit polluters and wealthy corporations who put profits over the health of our communities, our kids, and our planet. UCS is mobilizing immediately with the 17,000 scientists in our network and with partners to launch an emergency campaign to fight attacks on federal science and scientists.

We’ll be watching for and ready to respond to

  • Signs of corporate capture at the USDA, starting with nominees for agriculture secretary and other key positions—like the role of USDA chief scientist, for which we beat back an appallingly unqualified nominee in 2018.
  • Attacks on science-based policies and USDA data. We will fight back against disappearing data, silenced scientists, suppressed and censored scientific studies, and other assaults on the science and scientists who keep us safe every day.
  • Rollbacks of USDA climate and equity policies and investments. We will defend the safeguards that protect the health and safety of people across the United States, especially those overburdened by pollution.

I won’t sugarcoat it: The coming months will be extraordinarily challenging and dispiriting. But we can make a difference, because while the incoming Trump administration will be better prepared this time, so will we.

We know that chaos and disinformation are the playbook, and we can be ready to act—to speak out against unfair policies, to defend science, to organize locally, to use our voices to call out and challenge disinformation. It will be hard, and it will be draining, but it will be critical to protecting our food system, safeguarding science, and defending our democracy.

“}]] 

Subscribe for the new deals