AZ Farmers Could Benefit From Feds Taking on Corporate Agriculture

By Alex Gonzalez

As Arizona farmers have grappled with inflation, falling crop prices and the effects of a changing climate, the incoming Trump administration could take action to reform the nation's industrial agriculture system and offer some help.

Potential steps could end foreign farmland ownership, block a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule mandating farmers use electronic ID tags on livestock, support low-wage farmworkers and end lobbying by global food corporations. Net farm income dropped by more than 4% this year, and by nearly 20% in 2023.

Joe Maxwell, chief strategy officer for Farm Action, said voters in battleground states like Arizona support reforms to break up major corporations' hold on the nation's food system.

"Eighty-eight percent of rural voters in battleground states during this last election cycle say they would be more favorable toward a candidate who supports cracking down on meat processing monopolies and ensuring local businesses can compete," Maxwell reported.

Maxwell predicted food producers will likely be hit harder by President Donald Trump's tariff plan. In Arizona, Yuma County has the highest percentage of corporate farms in the state, at just over 21%. The nation's largest food and agriculture legislation, known as the Farm Bill, expired last fall, and lawmakers have yet to agree on a new version.

This month, Congress passed a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, with $10 billion in economic aid to farmers and temporary funding for federal farm programs. Arizona ranks as one of the states with the highest percentage of small farms, according to the University of Arizona.

Maxwell stressed a new Farm Bill would offer a chance to make major changes to benefit small farmers and consumers and boost local supply chains.