WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to the Trump administration’s announcement of emergency assistance to farmers, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) issued the following statement:
“This financial assistance package is necessary to mitigate the harms of the Trump administration’s chaotic trade and tariff policies, but it fails to do enough for farmers growing fruits and vegetables. Specialty crop farmers are facing high input costs, labor shortages, mounting debt, and the reckless cancellation of USDA programs that funded food purchases from farmers for local schools and food banks.
“While the emergency financial assistance announced today is needed, the farm crisis we are facing is rooted in a dysfunctional federal safety net for farmers. The United States lost over 140,000 farms between 2017 and 2022, despite recurring bailouts for commodity crop growers. As Congress works in the coming months to draft a new Farm Bill, we need to dramatically rethink our farm safety net and create a system that provides incentives to farmers to move to new profitable production practices and to grow healthy foods to feed their local communities.”