Trump gives Ohio farmers $12 billion in aid — and Democrats complain
The sun sets behind the Menorah during the Menorah Lighting Ceremony at Beale Air Force Base, California, Dec. 7, 2023. The Menorah is a symbol of unity and celebration to commemorate and uphold tradition for Hanukkah. (U.S. Air Force photo by 2nd Lt. Sharon Cardenas)
Ohio farmers became divided on President Donald Trump’s $12 billion in aid, with some calling it “hush money” and others celebrating the plan.
After criticizing former President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins said that Trump hadn’t forgotten the farmers, providing a plan to help them plan for the next crop year.
“With this program serving as a bridge to the improvements President Trump and Republicans in Congress have made, it will allow farmers to leverage strengthened price protection risk management tools and the reliability of fair trade deals so they do not have to depend on large ad hoc assistance packages from the government,” she said in a release.
Some Ohio farmers, however, are not enthusiastic about the plan. Among those farmers is Shelby County farmer Chris Gibbs, the head of the Shelby County Democratic Party and the Ohio Democratic Party’s Rural Caucus. According to him, the recent Trump decision is nothing more than a way for him to prevent farmers from speaking up about the negative consequences of the tariffs.
“These hush money payments won’t benefit farmers at all. They’ll be immediately assimilated by the monopolies that control our fertilizer, seeds and crop protection supplies, magically resulting in increased costs that match the payments,” Gibbs told the Statehouse News Bureau. “These payments will go through farmers like poop through a goose.”
On the other hand, State Rep. Bob Peterson, R-Sabina, who is also a farmer, celebrated Trump’s plan, saying that it would help farmers in the state. He also said that Trump’s tax policies will reduce prices for farmers and make foreign countries, especially China, accountable for trade.
“What the Trump administration has done with the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on tax cuts, on allowing small businesses and farms to be able to transfer from generation to generation, provide certainty there, has been more helpful than probably anything that’s happened in the past 20 years,” Peterson told the news source.
Even though Gibbs agreed that this plan could be considered a short-term solution, he pointed out that it would make farmers utterly dependent on the federal government rather than on themselves.
“Where we are, because I’m struggling too, is by design. It’s by design that you are now dependent on this very administration for your survival,” Gibbs said. “You are now dependent on your neighbor’s tax dollars to survive, that same neighbor who is struggling to buy the very groceries that you provide.”
Republicans at the national level say they are working to ease costs for farmers, the backbone of our country, after they saw price increases of more than 20% under President Joe Biden.
“Ohio farmers are starting to see costs go down, thanks to President Trump fighting Bidenflation,” Republican National Committee Spokesperson Delanie Bomar said in a statement. “Democrats spent four years driving farm input costs through the roof with reckless spending and Green New Deal red tape, but President Trump is fighting to provide real relief for farmers and ranchers — through farmer aid, fair trade deals, and his pro-growth agenda, which is drastically lowering inflation.”
