Agriculture economist David Widmar told the Governor’s Ag Summit yesterday that things might get better for farmers if we really resume normal trade with China and if we adopt E15 biofuel year-round. But amidst those ifs, the dictator who put farmers in their current dire straits is asking for more money to keep buying rural America’s loyalty:
President Donald Trump had a surprise for the farmers he invited to dinner at the White House on Thursday: a request to Congress for $11.1 billion in assistance that would amount to the second bailout of the year for the beleaguered agriculture sector.
The appeal to Congress is part of a supplemental funding package that includes defense spending. It seeks $10 billion in assistance for growers of crops such as corn, soybeans and rice, along with $1.1 billion for Florida producers affected by winter storms late in 2025 and earlier in 2026.
The aid request was one of several items rolled out by the administration this week to woo farmers, who have formed a key part of the president’s political constituency but have been hurt by the backlash to some of his more controversial actions, including imposing sweeping global tariffs and launching a war with Israel against Iran [Michael Hirtzer, Erin Ailworth, and Elizabeth Elkin, “Trump Touts $11.1 Billion Aid Request to Woo Struggling Farmers,” Bloomberg via MSN, 2026.06.25].
Figure it out, farmers: Trump isn’t trying to get you back on your feet; he’s just keeping you in his back pocket while he destroys your independent livelihood.
Creighton University’s Ernie Goss follows the economies of ten midwestern states including South Dakota’s and back in 2024 he acknowledged President Joe Biden’s leadership. But until now Republicans weren’t anxious to write a new farm bill because the agriculture recession made the Biden/Harris administration look bad.
A cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to Creighton’s Rural Mainstreet Index for at least five months especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects just as Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio to massage auction price points.
Goss said that the region has lost some fifteen thousand jobs over the past 12 months and South Dakota’s manufacturing sector lost about 800 jobs over the last year or 1.8% of its manufacturing base.
https://www.kmaland.com/news/survey-says-tariffs-still-a-top-banker-issue-in-kmaland/article_728f5c44-f341-44be-bf5b-42d74b6d0780.html