Donald Trump made some big promises to America’s farmers during his 2024 campaign. He vowed to secure $50 billion in Chinese purchases of domestic farm goods, teased that he’d “take some of that tariff money and give it to our farmers”, and said disaster relief was locked in. As he said: “Through fires, floods, and freezing weather, we will always support our great American farmers. You have my word.” You may want to be sitting down for this next bombshell revelation, but this was all a lie. Nine months into the second Trump administration, and America’s farmers are on their knees, facing not just financial strain, but an existential threat that could wipe out a critical industry. Trump has ushered in a perfect storm of misery, with the situation ably summarized by the Ohio Capital Journal‘s recent interview with some extremely unhappy farmers. Chris Gibbs, who farms cows, and 500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa hay, says the current situation is “a hell of a mess”. Farms, already operating on thin margins and at the mercy of the climate, have been thrown into chaos by Trump’s tariffs, which have made key crops uneconomical to export, while also driving the prices of raw materials “through the roof”. Gibbs says this “chaos” is even worse than the first Trump administration: “We’re back in the same situation but only worse. In the major commodities, corn, wheat, soybeans, sorghum, rice, cotton, prices are below the cost of production, so there’s built-in loss. But we also have exorbitant costs that never recovered since Covid.” You reap what you sow Gibbs points specifically to the nightmare of the soybean market, pointing out that in 2024, China bought 54% of U.S. soybeans. This year? 0%. They are instead buying from Brazil and Argentina – and yes, that’s the same Argentina that Trump just sent a $20-24 billion bailout to. At this point, all farmers can do is pray for a repeat of the $61 billion bailout Trump was forced to make in his first administration when it became apparent that America’s breadbasket was on the verge of disappearing. But as for individual farmers in 2025? As Gibbs explains: “I used to tell my son, when he was just getting started, until you wake up in the middle of the night, 2:30 in the morning, and you got sweat rolling down your face, you haven’t really experienced what it is to farm. I’m feeling that now, 49 years in. It’s hard.” Who knows, maybe this time, Trump will simply shrug and let the farming industry evaporate into dust? After all, right now the only thing he could do to speed up the annihilation of America’s farms would be to nuke the Midwest.