Farmers should worry about Trump

My family has been farming the land for five generations and is involved in many aspects of agriculture. We produce commodities in conventional and regenerative ways. We grow conventional crops, organic crops, and food-grade corn. After college and playing golf professionally around the globe, I returned to farm with my family in Iowa and Minnesota. Like most, I have an off-farm income. I manage farmland and work in farm real estate.

I want an administration that will celebrate and support all types of agriculture and farmers, big and small. What makes American agriculture the envy of the world is our ability to produce food, fuel, fiber, and feed so well that we have an abundance to export to the rest of the world!

I’m excited to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz. They will help American farmers and ranchers in our mission to produce what the world needs. With their investments, we can do it in the most sustainable and conservation-oriented way possible. Take a look at the innovative Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities program at USDA. This is a great example of working with farmers, farm groups, agricultural researchers, and agribusiness in public-private partnerships. Harris and Walz will continue to support us as we innovate on our farms to grow solutions to our most pressing challenges. Having additional sources of farm income supports all of us in agriculture. This diverse revenue makes its way to our rural communities as well.

The message from the Republican ticket is turning decades of farm policy on its head. Trump and Vance are choosing oil refineries over American corn farmers and once again planning to crater export markets that took decades to establish. American farmers cannot go back to this. The plans laid out by their allies in Project 2025 include gutting farmers' most important risk management tools including cutting crop insurance and eliminating the Farm Bill Commodity Programs.

The Trump campaign has brought Robert Kennedy Jr. onto their ag team signaling he would be in charge of policy at USDA. Kennedy’s vision laid out in statements earlier this month would undermine science-based policies in favor of extreme regulations that would make what European farmers have been dealing with look like a cakewalk.

Trump's plans to force massive tariffs on agricultural trade will only benefit farmers in Brazil, according to a recent study by the National Corn Growers Association and American Soybean Association. These extreme policies will hurt our rural communities. Our towns will get smaller. School districts will close. And more farms and farmers will go out of business.

Farmers, ranchers, and rural Americans are going to play an important role in this election. We need to support the candidates who believe in us, will invest in us, and will support us as we lead the agricultural innovations and solutions the world needs. Those candidates are Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz. Another Trump administration will be devastating.

Josh Manske farms, manages farmland, sells farm real estate, and is an auctioneer.