Farm groups congratulate Trump on election, ask him to get to work

Published 6:00 am Friday, November 8, 2024

Farm group leaders Wednesday congratulated Donald Trump on his return to the White House and immediately had suggestions for what he could accomplish for agriculture in his second term.

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said the Trump administration must head off tax hikes and push a new farm bill through Comgress.

“Among the most pressing issues in rural America is the need for a new, modernized farm bill,” Duvall said in a statement. “The two-year delay is unacceptable.”

Trump was returned to the White House by taking 277 electoral votes on election night, according to The Association Press.

Several states were too close to call, but Trump had seven more electoral votes than needed.

Trump also was leading the popular vote and won swing states such as North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump’s comments about tariffs and illegal immigration raised concerns about farm exports and labor, but he did well in farm states and rural areas.

Trump will retake office at a pivotal time for agriculture and rural America and has a chance to ensure fair markets for farmers, National Farmers Union President Rod Larew said in a statement.

“Across the nation, family farmers and ranchers are grappling with unprecedented challenges, from escalating input costs and severe weather disasters to the absence of a renewed five-year farm bill,” Larew said.

Trump easily carried Idaho with 67.8% of the vote. “Things pretty much turned out as most people expected,” Idaho Farm Bureau Federation governmental affairs director Russ Hendricks said.

Oregon, Washington and California went for Kamala Harris. Trump, however, was popular in rural areas. He won every Eastern Washington county except Whitman County, home of Washington State University.

Yakima-Klickitat County Farm Association President Mark Herke noted Trump did well in farm states. “Eastern Washington farming is like farming in other states,” he said.

Washington Democrats retained control of the governor’s office and Legislature. Herke said he hoped a Trump administration will blunt the state’s green energy aspirations. “Washington, D.C., won’t have their back,” he said.

The Lower Snake River dams should be safe, too, Herke said. “Dam breaching is dead now, thank God,” he said. “They’re not going to get those busted in the next three months.”

Trump won 27 of Oregon’s 36 counties, including every county east of Deschutes County in Central Oregon. He lost in the heavily populated Portland-area counties of Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association congratulated Trump and said good riddance to “Bidenomics.”

Cattle prices have soared to record highs, but producers are squeezed by high input costs, record inflation and Biden’s “so-called competition agenda,” NCBA Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane said.

“This is the perfect opportunity to execute a hard reset on all of these failed policies,” Lane said in a statement.

Environmental groups responded to Trump’s victory with urgent fundraising requests. The Natural Resources Defense Council asked for monthly gifts to help its lawyers and policy experts “defend our planet.”

“President-elect Trump won the election, but his billionaire oil and gas cronies don’t get to rule,” NRDC President Manish Bapna said in a press release.

The Center for Western Priorities vowed “swift resistance” if the Trump administration opened more public lands for oil and gas drilling.