Fund used to buffer U.S. farmers from tariff wars is dwindling; rural America could face an 'immense fallout'

Rural America could bear the brunt of possible trade wars
with China, Mexico and Canada. (Adobe Stock photo)

As U.S. farmers prepare for spring planting season, federal tariffs and trade wars are among their top income worries. Their concerns are shared by lawmakers who "fear they’ll have to enact billions of dollars in new aid to rescue farmers harmed by President Donald Trump’s escalating trade wars with China, Canada, and Mexico, reports Meredith Lee Hill of Politico. "The fund Trump tapped to send farmers $28 billion in 2018 is now dwindling."

During Trump's first-term tariff duel with China, his administration used the Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation to send relief checks to farmers; however, the CCC's available funds are low. Hill writes, "After upcoming payments are made, there will only be an estimated $4 billion left for the Trump administration to spend on any fallout from his newest trade battle."

The newest round of tariffs include a 10% tariff on Chinese imports imposed this week, which will ultimately make purchasing farm equipment more expensive. Canada and Mexico garnered a pause on a 25% import tariff Trump threatened, but that levy is still possible. Hill explains, "Farmers are warning that their products will be harder to sell if the three countries retaliate with their own tariffs."

When the CCC was flush with funding, giving farmer bailout checks was a simpler process. This year is different. "Replenishing [the CCC] could become another sticking point in the bipartisan spending talks happening ahead of a potential mid-March government shutdown," Hill explains. "With farm-state Republicans expecting federal help from the fund to offset any trade-war impacts on their constituents, Democrats could make their own steep demands in exchange."

With the Trump administration targeting the country's three largest agricultural trading partners, farmers could face the harshest consequences. "Among those raising alarms is the American Farm Bureau Federation, which this weekend detailed the immense fallout for rural America should the trade wars proceed," Hill reports. "New levies 'may inadvertently create financial hardships for U.S. farmers and ranchers who are already operating on very thin or negative margins,' the group’s president and long-time Trump ally Zippy Duvall wrote to the president."

The battle for egg farmers is stressful and riddled with uncertainty. They are 'begging for a new approach.'

Egg farmers and their employees suffer when flocks
of their hens have to be culled. (Adobe Stock photo)

When bird flu sweeps through a chicken farm, its aftermath is sadness, stress and death. The extreme losses have some U.S. egg farmers wondering if they will ever recover.

"Greg Herbruck knew 6.5 million of his birds needed to die, and fast," reports Kate Wells of NPR. "The CEO of Herbruck's Poultry Ranch wasn't sure how the third-generation family egg producer (one of the largest in the U.S.) was going to get through this round of avian flu, financially or emotionally."

As a preventative measure to protect their flocks from avian flu infections, U.S. egg farms have invested "millions of dollars into biosecurity. Employees shower in and shower out, before they start working and after their shifts ends," Wells explains. "But none of that has been enough to contain the outbreak that started three years ago."

Unlike the U.S. bird flu outbreak in 2014-2015, this version of bird flu has proven impossible to contain. "It's so entrenched in the global environment, spilling into mammals such as dairy cows, and affecting 147 million birds in commercial and backyard flocks in the U.S.," Wells reports. "Egg producers and the American Egg Board are begging for a new approach."

Herbruck described the "virus as a terrorist," Wells adds. "Ten months after Herbruck's Poultry Ranch was hit, the company is still rebuilding its flocks. . . . Still, he and his counterparts in the industry live in fear, watching other farms get hit two, even three times in the last few years." Herbruck told Wells, "We are in a battle and losing, at the moment."

Vaccinating birds is a solution being used in China, Egypt and France. Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, told Wells, "All the measures we're doing are still getting beat by this virus." Wells reports, "At this point, Metz argued, the industry can't afford not to try vaccination, which has helped eradicate diseases in poultry before."

U.S. has about 60 venison donation programs in 42 states that help to feed hungry Americans

Kip Padgelek loads 828 pounds of packaged venison for a
local food bank. (Photo by Randy Ferguson/HSH via the Yonder)

Ending hunger for many rural Americans can begin with connecting hunters with those in need. "Deer venison donation programs provide food-insecure Americans with tens of millions of pounds of meat every year," reports Katie Hill of The Daily Yonder. "And it’s their relationship with hunters, butchers, and food banks that make it possible."

For smaller communities with residents who often struggle with food insecurity, deer meat is a solution that provides sustenance and connection. Hill explains, "In states like Pennsylvania, Texas, and Illinois, where the urban-rural divide seems to deepen with every passing election cycle, venison becomes something of a bridge — a show of communal care passed from hunters to their neighbors in need, near and far."

Getting a harvested deer onto the table of those needs requires the donating hunter to find a butcher to process the meat. That's when businesses such as Kip's Deer Processing in Pennsylvania lend their expertise and hard work. Hill adds, "Kip's is one of roughly 100 independent processors from across the state who do the messy, tiresome work of turning donated deer into ground meat."

Butchers are paid for their work through the state's Hunters Sharing Harvest program, which "compensates participating butchers with money that comes partially from corporate sponsors and non-profit partners of HSH and partially through the Department of Agriculture's Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture."

A carve-out within the TEFAP law is foundational for many venison donation programs across the U.S. The allowance provides "funding to be spent on 'intrastate and interstate transport, storing, handling, repackaging, processing, and distribution of foods (including donated wild game)' and other commodity proteins." Currently, there are almost 60 venison donation programs in 42 states. 

Beachcombers find their treasure in washed-up items from the sea. Items include rubber ducks and diamond rings.

Man looks out over the shoreline. (Unsplash photo)

One man's trash is another's treasure and John Anderson’s trove is filled with items he has found along the Washington coastline.

Beachcombing for the majority of his life, “[Anderson] has curated 46 years’ of pickings in John’s Beachcombing Museum, a two-level warehouse on his Forks property (open summers only) that memorializes a family pastime he has taken to the extreme,” reports Elliott Almond at The Seattle Times.

Every time a ship goes down or a container goes overboard, its contents have to end up somewhere. Many things lost at sea eventually make their way to the Pacific coastline, carried by currents and in this case the North Pacific subtropical gyre, which according to Almond, is a vast circular system of ocean currents.

“The sandy, rocky outposts are a beachcomber’s paradise because the marine mosaic creates a natural seine to trap whatever happens to float past,” Almond said.

Some of the items spilled at sea include 28,800 bath toys and rubber ducks, 34,000 ice hockey gloves and 61,000 pairs of Nikes. Beachcombers found some of these items, as well as six diamond rings found by kids on a school trip, an 1896 silver dollar, the center spinner cone from a Boeing 747 jet engine, and remnants from tsunamis that hit Japan.

Deacon Ritterbush, who authored a book about beachcombing, told Almond, “It [beachcombing] is a portal to everything wonderful in life… It costs nothing, and you wear junk clothes. You’re just slopping it in nature.”

Beachcombing Washington’s 2,337 mile coastline isn’t always fun and games. Almond reports that Anderson has sustained multiple injuries trekking to and from the coast with his pack of treasures.

Anderson told Almond, “People always ask, ‘How many miles do you walk?’... I don’t count miles. I count two rebuilt ankles, two new hips and a back surgery.” 

Southern states spend millions on new clinics to serve rural residents. It's one way to avoid federal Medicaid expansion.

Clemson Rural Health serves rural Walhalla, S.C.
(Clemson University photo via KFF Health News)

Southern states made rural health a focus, but the sector's trendiness hasn't translated into Medicaid expansion plans. "State lawmakers nationwide are spending millions of dollars to address a rural health care crisis long in the making," reports Lauren Sausser of KFF Health News. For more than a decade most Southern states have refused billions in federal funds that would provide public health insurance coverage to more low-income adults."

Among the 10 states that refused Medicaid expansion, some have developed their own approaches to addressing rural health disparities with state dollars. Clemson Rural Health in South Carolina is a small primary care clinic run by Clemson University that "attempts to fill [rural health care] gaps by providing primary care. . .for uninsured patients free of charge or at reduced rates," Sausser explains. Clemson's clinic receives the largest part of its funding from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Jonathan Oberlander, a professor and health policy scholar at the University of North Carolina, said "he doesn’t expect to see any of the remaining states rushing to fully expand Medicaid," Sausser writes. "Oberlander said conservative lawmakers often consider projects such as building new rural clinics more politically palatable than expanding Medicaid coverage."

Other southern states have followed suit. "The University of Georgia established a new medical school, partly to send more physicians into underserved and rural areas," Sausser adds. "The Georgia General Assembly kicked in half the cost of a new $100 million building for medical education and research in Athens. . . .The Tennessee General Assembly passed a budget last year that included $81 million for a variety of rural health initiatives." 

Making money off of money can be done at many banks, but they don't have to disclose better deals

Banks don't owe consumers their best
deals. (Adobe Stock photo)

Americans who choose banks with higher savings interest rates can make more money with little work; however, some U.S. banks hope consumers are too confused or hassled to bother making a switch.

"For the last few years, anyone keeping $10,000 in a high-yield savings account has earned close to 4% annual interest, or about $400 a year," reports Ben Blatt of The New York Times. "The nation’s three largest banks — Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo — offer 0.01% on their standard savings accounts. That works out to $1 in interest a year for a $10,000 deposit."

Sometimes banks offer additional perks to make up for their abysmal rates, but most believe "their customers won’t hunt for better deals out of inertia," Blatt explains. "Banks know their customers are generally not attentive to account details. A study commissioned by Capital One found that many people check their savings account less than once a month, and about half don’t know what interest they are earning."

While it may sound unethical, banks "have no fiduciary duty in many cases and can profit from customers’ confusion," Blatt reports. "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said one bank, Capital One, went too far by intentionally creating confusion so that customers wouldn’t know to switch to a higher-paying account at the same bank."

While sowing confusion may be wrong, part of a bank's purpose is to make money. Scott Pearson, a lawyer who represents banks in regulatory matters, told Blatt, “I don’t know why anyone would think that it’s the bank’s job to tell you that you can get a better deal somewhere else or that they’ll give you a better deal. That is just kind of a shocking and unprecedented theory in my view.”

Coyotes can be friends, foe and sometimes just pests. They kill smaller vermin, but they can kill pets or livestock, too.

Coyotes aren't very aggressive, but they are still predators.
(Unsplash photo)

Coyotes have “increased their range more than 40% since the 1950s” and made their way North, East, South, West, onto farms and into your backyard, Whitney McKnight reported for The Edge.

Due to the extinction of wolves and mountain lions, and the near extinction of black bears in Kentucky, smaller predators have taken their place at the top of the food chain, including coyotes, foxes and bobcats.

“Coyotes are partially filling the niche wolves did in the state about 150 years ago,” John Cox, a University of Kentucky associate professor and wildlife management and conservation expert, told McKnight.

Even though they are considered pests, Cox said, “coyotes are good farm inhabitants, given that because of their flexible diet, they can clear a farm of voles, mice, and rats, even if they might also occasionally help themselves to the chickens.”

According to an Oregon State University study, due to coyotes' territorialism and their diet, they can also be beneficial for keeping away other predators. They can make unintentional guards for flocks of sheep, and farmers should consider letting them settle in that area.

While they aren’t often aggressive or bold predators, winter is coyote breeding season and sightings might become more frequent this time of year. McKnight said she has been seeing increased warnings on social media about keeping an eye on small pets and children.

Oftentimes if you see a coyote it is just because they are curious about you. If you do happen to have an encounter, it is important to remember that coyotes are predatory creatures and not to run from them or approach them, as advised by Kentucky wildlife management officials.

Mexico and Canada have a 30-day pause on import tariffs. Delayed levies may hit farmers and rural communities first.

The outcome from U.S. tariffs is uncertain.
(Adobe Stock photo)

With last-minute maneuvering, Canada and Mexico avoided stiff import tariffs threatened by the Trump administration, report David Alire Garcia, Trevor Hunnicutt and David Ljunggren of Reuters. In return for a 30-day tariff suspension, "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to bolster border enforcement efforts in response to (President) Trump's demand to crack down on immigration and drug smuggling."

Even with the one-month pause, American consumers may still face higher prices and U.S. farmers remain concerned, reports Joshua Baethge of Farm Progress. Trump says the tariffs are "necessary to combat illegal drugs coming into the country and related criminal activity."

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall expressed alarm over the "potential harm to farmers resulting from tariffs," Baethge reports. "While careful to say that Farm Bureau members support the goals of security and free trade, he says experience shows farmers and rural communities will bear the brunt of the expected economic consequences."

Some lawmakers voiced concern that slapping tariffs on two of America's biggest agricultural trading partners will make everything, especially groceries, more expensive. However, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., says Trump’s "tariff policy has 'been an effective tool' in leveling the global playing field and ensuring fair trade for American producers," Baethge explains. "Still, not all Republicans were on board with the president’s plan."

House Agriculture Committee ranking member Angie Craig, D-Minn., noted that "tariffs imposed during the first Trump administration increased costs for farmers and consumers," Baethge reports. Craig pointed to high input costs U.S. farmers already face and the number of Americans struggling to afford groceries as reasons she opposed the tariffs.

Postal Service watchdog finds 'little convincing evidence' reforms will help; instead, plans will hurt rural communities

Despite its struggles, 72% of Americans see
the USPS favorably. (Adobe Stock photo)

The United States Postal Service is hemorrhaging money while struggling to complete its basic mission of delivering mail to American citizens.

An advisory review by the Postal Regulatory Commission found that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 'Delivering for America' plan "offers ‘little convincing evidence’ its reform plans will succeed," reports Eric Katz of Government Executive. PRC said planned USPS reforms could negatively impact rural service areas.

In its review, PRC "examined two parts of DeJoy’s plan: its Regional Transportation Optimization initiative, which requires mail to sit overnight at post offices instead of being collected each evening for transportation to a processing center, and its processing plant consolidations that will result in the 60 regional processing distribution centers," Katz explains. PRC regulators said the initiatives lacked planning and were unlikely to streamline work, increase efficiency and produce impactful savings.

Regulators noted how the USPS was "glossing over how much more significantly rural communities would feel the impacts of the changes," Katz reports. "Some populations will not receive First-Class mail pieces for six or more days, it said. Those impacts may render the reforms in violation of the law, the commission added."

USPS has not responded to PRC's recommendations; however, DeJoy "previously promised to lawmakers he would take the PRC’s opinion seriously and tweak his plan as he saw fit," Katz writes. "PRC made more than three dozen recommendations for updating DeJoy’s reforms. . . . Postal management also recently announced lower on-time delivery targets for 2025."

Three ways the new administration could help rural America meet its challenges

Helping younger farmers helps local land stay
locally owned. (Abobe Stock photo)

Seeking a voice and change small-town America needs, many rural voters rallied for President Donald Trump to return to the White House. Now that he's back in the Oval Office, there are three ways his administration could work with Congress to help rural America face its challenges, write Randolph Hubach and Cody Mullen for The Conversation.

Health care is a good place to start.
Rural Americans are more likely to receive Medicaid or Medicare health care coverage and more vulnerable to negative impacts from policy or funding changes. "Funding from those federal programs affects rural hospitals, and rural hospitals are struggling," Hubach and Mullen explain. "Nearly half of rural hospitals operate in the red today, and over 170 rural hospitals have closed since 2010."

They recommend government funding continue for the Low-volume Hospital Adjustment Act and the rural emergency hospital model because both programs address rural health care providers' financial needs. Additional support and expansion of rural telehealth services is also needed.

Help small towns address affordable housing.
Like much of the country, rural communities lack affordable housing. To help small towns create housing solutions, the new administration should support the "bipartisan Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which calls for creating a new federal tax credit to spur the development and renovation of family housing in distressed urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods," Hubach and Mullen add. "The Section 502 Direct Loan Program through the Department of Agriculture could be expanded with additional funding to enable more people to receive subsidized mortgages."

Keep local lands locally owned.
Rural businesses and landowners tend to care about the communities they call home. Congress could support rural land ownership through the "proposed Farm Transitions Act [that] would establish a commission on farm transitions to study issues that affect locally owned farms and provide recommendations to help transition agricultural operations to the next generation of farmers and ranchers," Hubach and Mullen add.

The Trump administration also could continue assistance for young farmers. "About 30% of farmers have been in business for less than 10 years, and many of them rent the land they farm," they write. "Programs such as USDA’s farm loan programs and the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program help support local land purchases and could be improved to identify and eliminate barriers that communities face."

'Purchase nothing' is one way some Americans are fighting back inflation and paying off debts

No-buy challenges can help
reduce debt. (Adobe Stock graphic)

Faced with relentless inflation, some Americans have pledged to purchase nothing and plow what they might have spent into paying off debts. "The 'no buy 2025' trend encourages people to purchase as little new stuff as possible," reports Ann-Marie Alcántara of The Wall Street Journal. "Some people make lists of specific items they won’t purchase, while others vow not to buy any non-essentials."

While no buy isn't entirely new, this year it has gained momentum beyond social media popularity. "An idea like no-buy has trended before on TikTok," Alcántara explains. "Google searches for 'no buy challenge' are up 40% year-over-year, while 'no spend challenge' searches have hit an all-time high."

Families discovered that consciously reducing luxury items quickly stacked up funds to pay off debt. Rachel Holdsworth, a part-time nurse and stay-at-home mom, "wanted to pay off her family’s $10,000 credit-card debt," Alcántara writes. "Holdsworth is cutting out hair treatments and manicures. . . . They’ve paid down $2,000 of their debt through no-buy and Holdsworth’s side hustles."

Part of no buy's appeal is that it allows consumers to feel in charge of their money while pushing back against higher prices. Analyst and part-time grocery store worker, Donavan Harnage, told Alcántara, "If I can’t control what the stores do, I can control how I spend my money." Harnage plans to nix trips to Target and give less-used online streaming services the ax.

Other consumers opt to reduce purchases by using the products they have. "People also are adhering to 'project pan,' a similar trend to no-buy that spurs people to finish all their skincare, makeup or body-care products before buying replacements," Alcántara explains. "Some are even combining no-buy with project pan."

Great Backyard Bird Count goes through Feb.17; more than 7,900 species were identified in 2024

    Siberian Stonechat in Israel, left, Pied Cormorants in Australia, center, Adelie Penguin in Antarctica, right
(Photos by Parmil Kumar, Andy Gee and Steve B, Macaulay Library)

The global Great Backyard Bird Count is almost here. Spotters can begin counting and reporting all the birds they see or hear beginning on Friday, Feb. 14. Last year, more than 210 countries or subregions spotted approximately 7,920 of the world’s known bird species.

This year the count will run from Feb. 14 through Monday, Feb. 17 as the GBBC celebrates its 28th year of magnificent bird sights and sounds. During last year's count, GBBC participants shared 164,740 media uploads, including photos, videos, chirps, songs and squawks. Delightful images from around the world made up more than 159,967 submissions.

In 2024, the global community donned their bird goggles and rekindled their love of ornithology. The U.S. tallied 212,673 checklists and identified 676 species. India flew into second place, with 65,111 eBird submissions. Canada was third with 31,151 eBird checklists and 14,049 Merlin sightings.

This year promises to be as fun-filled and educational as bird watchers flock together with their tallies, photos and shared "rare finds." Participation is simple:

• Count birds on one or more days of the four-day event and report their sightings using Merlin Bird ID or eBird on mobile or computer.
• Anyone can take part in the count, from beginning bird watchers to experts, and you can participate from your backyard or anywhere in the world.
• Count birds you see or hear for 15 minutes or as long as you want.
• If you are a beginning bird admirer and new to bird identification, try using the Merlin Bird ID app to tell us what birds you are seeing or hearing.
• If you have participated in the count before and want to record the number of birds, try the eBird Mobile app or enter your bird list on the eBird website (desktop/laptop).
• Visit the official website for more information and check out the latest educational and promotional resources.
• On the program website, participants can explore real-time maps that show what others are reporting during and after the count.