Farmers from Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee voiced their frustration with the Trump administration’s trade policy, sharing how tariffs impact operations, margins, communities, and the perception of the U.S. as a reliable trading partner, during a webinar sponsored by Tariffs Cost US.
Over the last year, tariffs created uncertainty in the ag economy, with many farmers now unsure how they should prepare for the 2026 growing season, including what to plant this year, and what market access will look like when it comes time to sell.
“Kansas farmers depend heavily on export markets, especially for grain, sorghum, wheat, and soybeans. When tariffs disrupt trade or invite retaliation, prices fall, and markets become less reliable. That makes it harder to lock in contracts, manage risk, and plan for stable income heading into the new year. Higher upfront cost combined with uncertain returns mean farmers are taking on more risk just to stay in business,” said Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union.
He added, “Tariffs are not an abstract policy issue for farmers. They directly shape how we plan what we grow and whether we can invest with confidence.”
Why tariffs hurt U.S. farmers both in the short, long term
Tariffs not only cause pain in the short term, pressuring operating margins, but they also make it harder for U.S. farmers to do business with buyers and countries long-term, as the U.S. is seen as an unreliable trading partner, the farmers explained. Farmers are still feeling the impacts from trade tensions in the first Trump administration.
Trump accelerates trade war over Greenland ambitions
Last year, the Trump administration levied various tariffs on large parts of the world, to rightside U.S.’ trade deficit and to force countries to take particular actions.
Trade tension flared at the start of 2026, when Trump threatened the U.K., Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden with a 10% tariff if they do not cooperate with giving Greenland to the U.S., over what the administration claimed is a threat to U.S. security. In response, the European Parliament is set to suspend the approval of a trade deal with the U.S. on Jan. 21.
“We invested in trade development. We often join trade organizations and travel to try to build working arrangements with buyers overseas. And all that work is being undermined by a random trade policy because our potential buyers are no longer seeing us as reliable suppliers, and often those foreign buyers don’t come back to us even years later,” said Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union.
He added, “Last round of trade tariff chaos in 2018 and 2019, many Chinese buyers, for instance, started buying from farmers in other countries, especially in South America, and some of those buyers have never come back to American farmers. The trade chaos hurts farmers today, and it hurts farmers for years down the road.”
Brazil’s agriculture sector has capitalized on U.S. trade turmoil, with the Latin American country exporting a record $169.2 billion worth of agricultural goods in 2025, as AgTechNavigator previously reported.
The three farmers advocated for Congress to do more to rein in Trump’s use of tariffs, while stressing legislators understand how aggressive trade policies are harming rural farming communities.
“Congress needs to act in its capacity as a coequal branch of government when it comes to these tariffs. These tariffs that have been put forward by one person — by one side of our government — that is not how this was arranged ... underneath our laws, underneath global trading laws,” Levendofsky elaborated.
How DOGE hurt Kansas sorghum farmers
The Trump administration’s dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — is also impacting Kansas sorghum farmers. The crop “was primarily utilised through the Food for Peace program at USAID,” Levendofsky noted.
When the USAID “programme ended, the market literally dropped on grain sorghum. And now there are piles and piles of grain sorghum all over, at Kansas grain elevators, all over the state, and there is talk that there are some grain elevators that are telling farmers, ‘You can plant grain sorghum next year, but we are not going to take it,’” he elaborated.
