The Capital Press gets it wrong

A recent guest editorial in the RVT by the Capital Press said the policies of Trump were more favorable to agricultural interests than Biden’s.

USDA data (2023) confirm that over the first three years of their presidencies, Biden and Trump’s payments to farmers are virtually identical: each authorized nearly $57 billion in direct federal payments to farmers over that time span. More importantly, net farm income has actually gone up since Biden took office.

On average, net farm income has totaled $165 billion between 2021 and 2023, compared to $94 billion between 2017 and 2019. Farm income reached a record high of nearly $189 billion in 2022.

Not mentioned is the biggest threat to farmers: climate change. Climate change is significantly impacting farmers and ranchers by causing more extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and heatwaves, leading to unpredictable crop yields, reduced water availability, increased pest problems, and potential economic losses due to crop damage,.

The editorial goes on to say that “unfortunately” the Supreme Court upheld California’s Proposition 12 , which is a travesty to human decency and the animals suffering extreme confinement and cruelty for profit by Big Ag. The least we can do when exploiting animals for profit is to treat them humanely.

I suggest the RVT let people subscribe to the Capital Press if they’re interested in ag issues (from a one-sided perspective). Your paper could use that space for something more worthy and less partisan.

Lin Bernhardt, Shady Grove Farm / Talent