For decades, Democrats have largely ignored rural voters, much to their current disadvantage at the national level.
In “Democrats Can Finally Stop Pandering to Farmers,” the New York Times published an article by Michael Grunwald in which he blames farmers for decisions Democrats made years ago and conflates farmers with large processors and corporate agribusiness.
At the same time, he offers no apology nor solution to the situation in which we find ourselves.
Farmers do as they are told and later get blamed for doing precisely what was asked of them.
Grunwald conflates the “Farm Lobby,” of which he complains, with farmers. Those dollars don’t come from farmers. They come from Corporate America – mainly the processing industry, including Coca-Cola, Nestle, and others. Farmers are just along for the ride – one they were forced to get on.
He is correct, small farmers like me get zero benefit from the Farm Bill. Indeed, it is just the opposite and provides mostly pain. But I certainly am not going to throw the big guys under the bus for doing exactly what people like Grunwald asked them to do.
Ethanol was a creation of large corporations, environmentalists, politicians, and the Urban Elites.
A big target for Grunwald is ethanol, and he points out the obvious problems with that program, of which we are all aware. He then immediately blames the victim.
Farmers didn’t invent ethanol or promote its use. Urban elites, politicians, and environmentalists did. Nor do farmers produce ethanol. Producers do. Producers wanted cheap corn, and Congress obliged.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) was looking for a way to monetize ethanol, which is a by-product of corn syrup. After the oil embargo of 1973, which I remember well, ADM began promoting ethanol in 1974 as a solution to the oil crisis.
As a result of ADM’s extensive lobbying, Bob Dole became known as the Ethanol Senator.
Farmers had nothing to do with this. My dad and I had never heard of ethanol.
What it did do is create an ethanol monster that now must be fed. Farmers often plowed under fruits and vegetables to make way for corn, as requested. Unfortunately, that is a one-way street. Switching to corn is easy and mechanized. Going back to fruits and vegetables is nigh impossible without government assistance.
In 2021, Harvard released its study that “the science” shows that ethanol reduces carbon by a shockingly large amount. Later, Harvard dithered and Harvard Magazine published “The Ethanol Illusion” (Which is not a study, by the way).
Grunwald is a Harvard graduate and part of the urban problem that created this mess. From the farmer’s point of view, he is on Team Urban Elite. He certainly benefited from the money made by Corporate America, with all of the crop subsidies he points out.
He has now decided that ethanol is bad. And blames the farmer for that result.
Yes, producing ethanol probably isn’t the best use of our farm land or tax dollars. But I am not going to blame my fellow farmers for doing what was asked of them. We need a 10-year plan to dismantle this monster, along with an apology, which he does not offer.
The fast food industry, professors, Corporate America, and the prominent Ag universities invented and promoted factory farming.
At the same time that ethanol was being promoted, Earl Butz, the Secretary of Agriculture in the 1970s, skewered the New Deal farm policies that were meant to protect farmers from big agribusiness companies and be gentle on the land.
No more.
Secretary Butz wanted to support big agribusiness and have American farmers produce cheap soy, corn, wheat, and other crops to provide cheap inputs for the food processors. He wanted to focus on chemicals to support the chemical companies and boost productivity and advocated for the extensive use of herbicides, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and fertilizers.
This was urban America’s scientific view of the future of farming.
Butz famously yelled, “Get Big or Get Out!”
Farmers didn’t want this, didn’t invent any of this, and the farmers I knew railed against it – but we had no choice. All farming was organic until the 1960s. It wasn’t the farmer who invented any of these chemicals or farming practices. It was Team Urban with a singular focus on producing cheap inputs for processed food.
Butz got his way, and it worked until it didn’t.
When commodity prices collapsed and farmers started the first wave of bankruptcies, Congress responded by exploding commodity supports in the Farm Bill. That party is still going on.
Grunwald doesn’t seem to realize that all of the Ag lobbying dollars he attacks come from the processors and corporate groups. The same groups that fund Harvard. Not farmers. They are just along for the ride.
Now is when Democrats need to build bridges with farmers and rural voters, not demonize them.
Democrats are facing the possibility of a blood bath in 2026. I expect the rural vote in Michigan to comprise about 30% of the overall vote in the next midterm. Turnout in my Township was 76% in the last midterm. And we are 100% registered. Turnout in Detroit is expected to be 30%, and not everyone is registered. The math does not favor Democrats.
Not only is voting a community event in the rural Upper Midwest, but farmers influence an enormous percentage of the rural vote – we talk to a wide variety of people every week. Dozens of people ask me for voting advice. Trump understands this. Democrats don’t.
When a top Harris advisor told me that they weren’t worried about the farm vote because it was only 1% of voters, I knew she was doomed. The farm vote isn’t an economic test – it is an emotional test. It is people who identify as farmers. I suspect that number is 15% of the Electoral College Vote.
Conclusion
Grunwald is correct
Team Urban, the Universities, and politicians have made a mess of agriculture. Don’t blame the victim for this.
It would be great if someone came out and said, “We are sorry. We really screwed up. Here is how we are going to fix it and how long it will take.”
That takes leadership, not complaining about a problem you created.
