LOWER EQUIPMENT COSTS, MORE SOYBEANS
Farmers have faced higher costs for agricultural inputs like seed and fertiliser, which the Trump administration has said it is examining. Soybean farmers expect to see their third consecutive year of losses in 2025, according to the American Soybean Association.
Trump said at the White House that he would further help farmers by eliminating many environmental regulations for farm machinery and that he would expect manufacturers like John Deere DE.N to lower equipment prices.
“Farming equipment has gotten too expensive, and a lot of the reason is because they put these environmental excesses on the equipment, which don’t do a damn thing except make it complicated,” Trump said.
John Deere did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump also said he has asked China’s President Xi Jinping to increase China’s recently negotiated soybean purchase agreement.
“I think he’s going to do more than he promised to do,” Trump said.
During his first term, Trump gave about US$23 billion in aid to farmers hurt by his trade policies. Farmers are set to receive a near-record US$40 billion in government payments this year, fuelled by ad-hoc disaster and economic aid.
Net farm income could fall by more than US$30 billion in 2026 due to a decline in government payments and low crop prices, according to an estimate from the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.