It’s not just about what the president has done; part of his success is in what he has undone or cleaned up. Last May, Mr. Biden ended the misguided Farmers to Families Food Box program, which was intended to provide provisions for families. Some families benefited from it, but unfortunately, at the height of the pandemic, it was a bull’s eye. A new supply chain had to get the boxes from farmers to food banks that competed directly with local supermarkets. The program was mismanaged and used for political gain.
It would have been much more cost-effective to extend SNAP payments, which the Biden administration has done. A report from the Department of Agriculture finds that federal food benefits have more than twice the impact on rural communities than in urban areas.
It was largely overlooked at the time, but Mr Trump’s trade wars and tariffs have wreaked havoc in some rural areas that depended on food exports — so much so that the government paid out about $46 billion to farmers. He even told farmers that they were better off with government payouts, which cost more than the government spends each year on the State Department or children’s health insurance, than selling abroad.
Every farmer I know prefers markets to payments. Record high commodity prices under President Biden have deterred farmers from government aid. The Biden government has cut some tariffs, though many farmers would like it to be more aggressive, especially with China and other Indo-Pacific countries.
And the Biden administration recently said it plans to provide $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to help independent meat producers be more competitive. This will help make our food supply more resilient and address issues that emerged at the height of the pandemic.
Will what President Biden have done for so many rural Americans improve the electoral fortunes of Democrats in places like Iowa? When it comes to the medium term, it’s not really about Mr. Biden himself, but about long-running trends, and the only way to change those trends is to change the perception of Democrats on a national level.
This year, a lot will depend on what the Democrats do before November and how they engage. Like I said, they should be celebrating victories — like the US bailout plan, which propped up a surge in spending on construction projects and programs across America. Too often, Democrats leave it up to Republicans to set the agenda and chart issues, or blame the conservative media.
