Part 3
During the September Farm Foundation debate concerning presidential candidate policies that would affect agriculture, Kip Tom, Leesburg farmer and former ambassador to Rome, and former EPA agriculture advisor Ron Snyder took audience questions, discussing topics from trade and tariffs and legislation to biotechnology and taxes.
We heard a little bit so far about how each of the previous administrations creatively used the Commodity Credit Corp. fund ... What do you think the next administration should do that's maybe a little out of the ordinary with the CCC, or if they should if you support the legislation that's been brought forward to kind of curtail those new ideas?
"I think hamstringing the USDA Secretary of Agriculture from deploying those funds is a bad idea," Snyder said. "These are ways in which these dollars are intended to help strengthen markets and opportunities for American farmers. Clearly some of the climate-smart ag projects and whatnot are coming from these are new markets, new opportunities for farmers."
"If we allow it like you're at a bank, there are certain limits that a loan officer has and how he can loan money out," Tom said. "There has to be limits and I think allowing the secretary to have the limits that they have today and not having congressional oversight saying yes or no on this, not having that discussion is not good for USDA, not good for ag, especially when I look at the Thrifty Food Plan."
Can you comment on trade, tariffs and the candidate policies that might affect this and resource availability?
"Particularly if we have additional tariffs going forward, it is an opportunity for other farmers in other parts of the world to come in and take those markets. That is a real risk, and it is what has happened in the last number of years since the original Trump tariffs," Snyder said. "I think it could get worse in terms of renewable fuels and ethanol/E15."
"There's more reason than tariffs as to why we're seeing the loss of sales into China," Tom said, listing economic collapse in China, advances in agricultural sciences, and more Chinese agricultural production as examples. "The reality is they're going to continue to produce so that we need to go the route of incentivizing and making sure that we have value-added ag opportunities here in the United States to sell our products abroad."
How would candidates seek foreign market access and strengthen ag exports without engaging in a trade war?
"Well, we shouldn't engage in a trade war for starters," Snyder said. "Looking at some of the bilateral conversations that have been happening over the last several years (in Japan, Mexico, Latin America, Africa etc.), some of these emerging markets, investing in those relationships ... we have to do everything we can to not undermine that work (and) to make sure that we are going to be good trade partners with these countries."
"Let's remember there's more than just the trade here," Tom said. "It's ITC issues, it's making sure that American manufacturers and American workers have a place to go to work and make a good income. Otherwise, we could just export everything into China and let them produce it there."
"There is no reason for us to buy nitrogen from Russia. We have clean plants, we're seeing new blue and green production plants come to the United States, but we need to make sure we have more of them, to make sure we have that basic building block to produce crops," Tom said.
How do we address the regulatory barriers around innovation, particularly in biotechnology in this country?
Snyder listed two challenges addressing these issues: ways to streamline the process are still being worked out and a lack of resources from Congress. He said these need to be worked out in order to realize the full potential of agricultural innovation.
Tom expects Trump, as in his previous administration, to require that two regulations be stricken for every new one created.
How would your candidates' tax policy help farmers?
I think the Trump tax bill, if you look back to it, we moved the death tax from per couple from like $6-7 million to today it's nearly $25 million and if I think of land values today ... I look at what the Harris administration is proposing today, taking away stepped-up basis—we've heard comments on the unrealized net gains taxes. We're talking about increasing the tax on corporations from 20% to 28%. Some are wanting to go down to 15%," Tom said. "I really see this as probably the greatest risk to U.S. agriculture—if the Harris administration does what they're wanting to do."
"Of the Trump tax cuts from 2017, the vast majority of that benefit did go to the top 1% earners in the United States. That is not your average farmers across the country or rural residents," Snyder said.
"Unless and until the farm is sold, we're not talking about an inheritance tax. Farmers are not taxed on inheritance. It's if it's sold and those exemptions are still up to $14 million even under the prior policy, which 99% of farms would not be affected, even under the prior rules, so we're really talking about 1% of farms."
Project 2025 has called for eliminating agricultural marketing and promotion, otherwise known as checkoff programs. How would either candidate feel about the checkoff programs for agricultural commodities, and, broadly speaking, do you see any tension between USDA overseeing farmers and also advocating for promoting U.S. agriculture?
"President Trump has no ties to Project 2025. I know there are going to be skeptics in the room who say that, but the reality is he has no ties to Project 2025, period," Tom said. "They came up with their own policy, and it got leaked out there. So, the reality is he wants to do what's best for the farmers, and so I continue to stand behind him and you know if it's the checkoff dollars that's going out to corn growers or soybean or whoever, it may be, if I understand the question right, those will continue on."
"We need to hold them accountable and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do with those checkoff dollars," Snyder said.
Tom and Snyder urged audience members to vote for their candidates during their closing comments.
"I was with the president back on July 13 in Butler, Pa. I met with him about 20 minutes before he went up on stage and we had a conversation about agriculture, and he looked at me as I started to walk out of the room, and he grabbed my arm again. He said, 'Wait a second.' He said, 'Let's make agriculture great again.' So I think there's a real commitment by the president to make sure that we make agriculture great again.
"But one thing I noticed when he went out on stage, and obviously we can all recall the flag in the background and watching that shot that he was hit with—we knew it could have been a lot worse than that—but the reality is President Trump got up ... when he stood up that showed instinctual courage. That's a sign of somebody who will not back down from a foreign adversary. It's also the sign of somebody who wants to lead a nation, will take the take the steps they need to make sure we have the right policy in place to make sure America remains first."
"This, as I've said before, this is really a choice between certainty and chaos. When it comes to foreign policy, we have lived through the prior four years of the Trump administration where there was tremendous uncertainty around trade, around labor, around renewable fuels, around our commitment to being global leaders in terms of climate-smart agriculture and conservation," Snyder said.
"Vice President Kamala Harris and (Minnesota) Gov. Tim Walz are tremendously committed to working alongside U.S. farmers and ranchers across this country to make sure that we continue to lead the world in terms of food production. I hear President Trump talking so often about 'America in decline' and 'We need to make America great again.' America is already great, and I think our food and egg system, our farmers and ranchers are the best in the world. And we need to make sure investing in them and supporting them and coming alongside them to make sure that we can continue to meet the moment, and I believe that Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz are fully on board to do that."