Hoosier Farmer Kip Tom on Trump’s Support for Agriculture, Rural Americans

Now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House to serve as President, one of Indiana’s top ag leaders says that Trump’s agriculture policies will greatly benefit Indiana’s farmers and rural Americans.

“I think Trump is a world-class negotiator, and I’m confident that he’ll support the U.S. agriculture economy,” says Kip Tom, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture during President Trump’s first term. He is also a farmer based in Kosciusko County in northern Indiana and served as co-chair of the “Farmers and Ranchers for Trump 47” Committee.

Tom says that Trump will look at taking President Biden’s current ag policies in a completely different direction.

“When we talk about trade—we went from nearly $37 billion surplus in the early days of Trump’s administration. Now, we’re projecting a $42 billion deficit in our food and ag trade,” according to Tom. “We also know that farmers’ incomes are off nearly 40 percent from 2022 to 2024. We know that regulations have grown by almost $1.67 trillion—and that’s highly inflationary because when those regulations or new taxes all come into place, that all gets handed back to the consumers or those of us in a space where we take the prices that were given for our products, so I think those are three key areas that we’ve got to get under control and I think Trump is going to focus on those.”

Even though many farmers and ag professionals have expressed their concern about the impact of tariffs and ag trade with Trump back in office, Tom says that Trump will won’t push for trade deals unless they benefit America’s farmers.

“I know that [Trump] understands the ag economy,” says Tom. “He understands that 75 percent of the people that he would impact if he puts strict tariffs on imports are going to be impacted negatively. Now, as we look at those tariffs, let’s take the example of China. We’re importing nearly $500 billion worth of goods and products from China. But they’re only buying $350 billion from us. What’s fair about that? I believe we really need to work hard to make sure that we have more of a balanced trade with countries like China. If they want to keep up their $500 billion in sales to us, then they need to be buying more of our ag commodities.”

Tom adds that Trump would not have been reelected, if it wasn’t for the support he received from rural Americans.

“Nearly 75 percent of rural America—farmers, ranchers, those involved in our food systems, and those living in our rural communities—supported Donald J. Trump as President of the United States in 2024. He knows that. We continue to remind him of that, and I feel strongly that President Trump wants to see and support a strong ag economy and rural America,” added Tom.

The 119th United States Congress will be sworn in on Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. Meanwhile, Trump will be sworn in as our nation’s 47^th President on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. He will become only the second U.S. President, in addition to Grover Cleveland, to be elected as President to two non-consecutive terms.

CLICK BELOW to hear Ambassador Kip Tom’s full conversation with Hoosier Ag Today’s C.J. Miller, as they also discuss the status of the Farm Bill in Congress, as well as the push by ag leaders to preserve the 2017 tax reforms beyond 2025.