Despite Trump’s promises to make trade work better for American agriculture, the ongoing free-trade negotiations don’t seem to be bringing good news for family farmers.

From his family ranch in Grass Range, Montana, Gilles Stockton has been tracking the agricultural sector’s 23-year dance with free trade. And he’s not convinced that it has benefited farmers. “It’s uncritical thinking [to say] that we have to have a free trade agreement in order to trade,” he said.

The rancher, a member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and other family farm groups, has been an outspoken critic of the idea that modern agriculture is united around free trade agreements. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994, he said, beef producers have often gotten the worst end of the deal.

This opinion stands in stark contrast to the view of organizations like the U.S. Farm Bureau, whose president, Zippy Duvall, recently described the agreement as “a huge success story for North American agriculture” that he wants to see continue.

The first four rounds of negotiations over “NAFTA 2.0” have now concluded, raising more questions than answers, and highlighting the continuing divide in U.S. agriculture between the largest growers and smaller-scale operations. Among the most contentious proposals that would affect U.S. farmers of all sizes are grain and livestock tariffs, controversies over Canadian dairy imports, and increasing imports of produce from Mexico.

One big, open question is what the Trump Administration actually wants. Is the goal to fix NAFTA’s problems and continue the agreement? Or is the administration making demands designed to terminate the decades-old free trade zone?

Speaking at the closing press conference of the fourth round of negotiations, which concluded last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said, “As difficult as this has been, we have seen no indication that our partners are willing to make any changes that will result in a rebalancing and a reduction in these huge trade deficits.” He also noted the significant gap between the countries’ proposals, and an apparent difficulty in bridging it. “Everybody has to give up a little bit of candy,” he said.