A large portion of American farms depend on federal subsidies.
Foreign aid for dummies
These payouts are often a promise of “foreign aid” to many parts of the world who depend on them. This form of soft power brings compliance and acquiescence in various negotiations to the benefit of the USA.
This money comes from taxes and about 85 cents on the dollar come back to American farmers. Foreign aid is mandated income for farmers who have integrated into this system.
Isolationist tendencies want this to end. They want the aid to stop flowing, and they want these farmers to stop getting paid.
With the victory of the large and stale tech organizations in the recent federal election, with various far-more-politically-experienced isolationist groups in tandem, they just might get what they want with this administration. Whether or not the USA should seek influence across the world in this way is its own debate, but the destruction brought to farmers is certain.
If done slowly, it might not have been noticed. Ripping out these programs, while ripping these farmers’ livelihoods out from under them, probably represents a security threat to those who advocated for the ripping – which might lead to some fun and cool social media videos for the rest of us.
Farmer votes for his own obliteration
Here’s a video from a farmer who voted for his own demise – incredible.
Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@cattlemenfamilyfarms/video/7468375097628200234
He further explains: https://www.tiktok.com/@cattlemenfamilyfarms/video/7468375097628200234
He shouldn’t be surprised this is happening. I blame podcasters writ-large. You can find various reactions to his video across the TikTok ecosystem. There isn’t much good advice to be offered in the scenario.
He later reveals the covid vaccine mandate caused him to vote the way he did, which confirms my suspicion that the Democratic Party traded the 2024 election for a ~4% boost in vaccine uptake.
Who benefits?
When farms go out of business, or get tired from enduring prolonged hardship, they are scooped up by private equity for cheap.
It’s fair to assume all of this is being done on purpose by interested parties. This event by itself is an example of government being used to create that hardship which might lead to him giving up and selling out.
Will this affect raw milk farms?
Raw milk farms probably won’t be affected in the same way as industrial farmers. Unless the farm has other commitments, there may be zero ill effects, though second and third order effects should be expected. The federal government isn’t exactly funding raw milk for human consumption and global distribution.
This development mostly affects large-scale industrial farms. It’s never been a better time to escape the corporate consolidated food system and support your small-scale farmers.
