What a Second Trump Administration Means for Food and Farms
November 06, 2024 | Source: The Equation | by Karen Perr Stillerman
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.
Trump 2.0 will be as bad as you think for farmers and eaters
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.