A LETTER TO CONGRESS
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Call: (202) 224-3121
or
Find your congressman: https://www.congress.gov/contact-us then enter your zip code.
From there you can email, call or physically mail a letter to your Representative and Senator.
Here’s how you address that letter (if mailing)
For U.S. Representatives
- The Honorable [Full Name]
- U.S. House of Representatives[Building Name and Room Number]
- Washington, DC 20515
For U.S. Senators
- The Honorable [Full Name]
- United States Senate[Building Name and Room Number]
- Washington, DC 20510
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear Member of Congress,
I am writing to express my frustration with the Trump administration’s repeated cuts to agricultural programs, conservation assistance, food-safety protections, and support for small, beginning, and underserved farmers.
Farmers are facing rising fuel and fertilizer costs, drought, disease threats, unstable export markets, consolidation, and growing financial distress. Yet the administration has reduced conservation funding, weakened or eliminated programs intended to help farmers remain viable, furloughed critical USDA staff, and made grant assistance more difficult to obtain. These decisions disproportionately harm family farms while large corporations and the wealthiest landowners continue to receive substantial benefits.
I am also deeply concerned by the weakening of food-safety standards, including the repeal of stronger Salmonella protections and the approval of pesticides containing persistent chemicals. Preventing outbreaks and protecting consumers should never be treated as unnecessary government spending.
Congress must restore agricultural and conservation funding, protect independent and underserved farmers, strengthen antitrust enforcement, preserve rigorous food-safety standards, and provide meaningful oversight of USDA and related agencies. American farmers and families deserve a food system built around safety, competition, and long-term stability—not political favoritism, corporate consolidation, and repeated bailouts after preventable policy failures.
Chronology.
1990s
1996-06-06 Antitrust Enforcement in the Meat Packing Industry (archived DOJ document)
2018
2018-02-01 Trump proposed $183M in cuts to Conservation Technical Assistance, which was designed to help farmers implement conservation practices.
2020
2020-05-26 America invested $15M to prevent screwworm and saved farmers an estimated $796M in damages.
2020-10-28 Trump handed farmers bailouts after his first trade war.
2021
2021-08-13 JD Vance promoted an indoor farming company that faced allegations of misleading regulators and investors.
2022
2022-03-02 Biden openly criticized the “Big Four” for manipulating the meat market.
2024
2024-09-18 JD Vance funded AcreTrader, which led to consolidation of farmland and reduced competition. Allegedly, JD Vance’s firm bought up American farmland and resold it to foreign investors.
2025
2025-01-20 The Trump administration froze funds to USAID. By March USAID was 83% gutted. By July 24, 2025 Trump signed the Rescissions Act of 2025 to claw back $8B in funding from USAID. Aside from foreign aid, dismantling USAID can negatively impact farm subsidies.
2025-02-06 Egg prices soared due to bird flu. When farmers rebuilt flocks and replaced sick birds, Trump took the credit.
2025-04-01 Trump repealed Biden’s Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry Products. Because of the repeal, poultry products contaminated with Salmonella can legally be sold so long as existing, less stringent, safety standards are met.
2025-04-01 The Trump administration cut $754M in funding from conservation technical assistance.
2025-06-24 Newsmax posted, “A government agency spending $300 million in taxpayer dollars to produce sterilized flies sounds like a dream scenario for a DOGE team looking to cut waste, fraud and abuse”. In June of 2026 there was a flesh-eating screwworm outbreak after DOGE cut the research and development sectors responsible for sterilizing the males so there wouldn’t be an outbreak.
2025-06-24 During Trump’s second trade war farmers sought after another bailout.
2025-07-09 Trump revoked Biden’s Executive Order 14036 on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, a legislation meant to prevent monopolies and higher food prices.
2025-08-01 A raw milk producer failed health tests that detected high levels of coliform bacteria, which can include E.coli.
2025-09-01 Soybean sales to China plummet compared to $12.6 Billion in sales in September 2024.
2025-09-09 Several Republicans continued opposing solar expansion on farmland, often describing such projects as “green-energy boondoggles.”
2025-10-01 In response to the government shutdown, the Trump administration furloughed 96% of NRCS staff, effectively freezing conservation programs and the processing of financial aid and contracts for farmers.
2025-10-03 China bought 25% (roughly 7 billion tons) of Argentina’s soybean complex.
2025-10-24 After bailing Argentina out with $40M, Trump announced the U.S. would be buying their beef too.
2025-10-28 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called himself a farmer during an ABC interview. For context, Bessent owns land in North Dakota which he rents out to farmers.
2025-10-30 Trump discussed trade deals in China with Xi Jinping, lowering tariff rates to 47% and establishing that China will buy 25M metric tons of soybeans annually over the next 3 years.
2025-11-02 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins perpetuated SNAP fraud claims on social media and praised Trump for withholding food assistance.
2025-11-10 The Agriculture Department threatened to penalize states that didn’t “undo” steps to fully fund SNAP.
2025-11-21 Tyson Foods closed the Lexington Nebraska beef plant, leaving roughly 3200 people out of a job. This boosted Tyson stocks by 6%.
2025-11-24 The EPA approved two new pesticides with “forever chemicals” that would be used on food.
2025-12-14 Trump announced a $12B bailout for farmers using tariff revenue.
2026 February
2026-02-08 Florida studies show increased glyphosate in bread products, and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis said the Healthy Florida First initiative found triple-digit levels.
2026 March
2026-03-08 Billion-dollar farm subsidies for the top 2% of farmers.
2026-03-10 The war in Iran affected global fertilizer trade and global helium supplies.
2026-03-24 Trump’s Agriculture Department shut down millions of dollars in programs designed to help first time and underserved farmers.
2026-03-27 Idaho lawmakers Glenneda Zuiderveld and Stephanie Mickelson reported pressure and retaliation over their immigration-policy positions.
2026 April
2026-04-21 The DOJ opened an investigation into whether meat packers were colluding with fixed prices or manipulating the market. See 2022 when the Biden Administration often publicly criticized the “Big Four” for manipulating the markets.
2026-04-30 A bale of hay costs $23, diesel costs rose up over 46%, screwworms were an issue in the Southern border, and additional cuts to SNAP benefits were made. Meanwhile farming families are under duress and the rate of farmer suicide is increasing.
2026 May
2026-05-09 The U.S. obligated millions of dollars in soybean, corn and vegetable oil trade from Argentina.
2026-05-13 The fertilizer shortage hit home for farmers in Michigan.
2026-05-17 China committed to buy $17B in US farm goods each year from 2026 to 2028.
2026 June
2026-06-01 The drought crisis forced farmers to navigate water shortages.
2026-06-03 Farm Journal reported that “40% of agricultural economists say that many farmers will need significant restructuring to remain viable”.
2026-06-04 Texas issued a state of disaster after a new world screwworm case was detected in cattle, goats and dogs.
2026-06-05 Trump visited a swing district in Wisconsin amidst rising costs for American farmers. Experts reported numerous farmers are asset heavy and going bankrupt. Farm families held up banners while Trump talked about his reflecting pool project.
2026-06-11 Trump further advocated on Fox that he wanted the Chinese Communist Party to continue buying up American farmland.
2026-06-25 MAHA moms said they felt betrayed after SCOTUS ruled that Bayer did not have to warn consumers about cancer risks associated with Roundup, and that Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to boost glyphosate production.
2026 July
2026-07-09 The Trump administration is changing the rules on applying and receiving grants for farmers that will make the process more burdensome and less reliable.
2026-07-10 Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller called for a special center to address AI data centers taking over Texas farmland.
2026-07-10 The US had a cyclospora outbreak.
2026-07-13 The USDA provided an inaccurate report overreporting beef sales by 90%. After they were caught, they reissued a new report, blaming the original report numbers on staffing shortages.
2026-07-15 The House passed a bill to make Daylight Savings Time permanent.
2026-07-15 The House GOP voted 216 to 214 to advance a $95BN reconciliation bill to fund Iran, aid farmers, and push for the SAVE Act.
2026-07-17 We were reminded that the slow progression to find the source of cyclosporiasis was largely due to Trump’s cuts to the CDC budget and staff.
2026-07-20 The FDA said the parasite cyclospora was linked to Taylor Farms, then said it was a false positive.
2026-07-21 RFK claimed the cyclospora outbreak was under control.
2026-07-22 the cyclospora outbreak bloomed in Michigan topping 7000 cases.
2026-07-23 Senator Thune said he didn’t have the votes to pass the $95B reconciliation bill.
2026-07-24 Farmers spent an addition $1.4 Billion dollars in diesel fuel compared to a year ago since the start of the Iran war.
2026-07-25 Ranchers in Colorado reported the need for water hauling amidst droughts.
2026-07-27 Eggs were recalled over salmonella
2026-07-27 The USDA announced a plan to open the southern border for two select areas of Mexico in August for cattle ranchers.
2026-07-27 The latest request for farm aid would cost each taxpayer $360.
2026-07-31 The heatwave blanketing much cattle country took a physical toll on herds with losses in the thousands.
2026 August
2026-08-06 Senator Cory booker (D-NJ) argued against the SNAP funding proposal within the farm bill, “That rich people get to grift and fraud, but we’re going after a program to try to save a few billion dollars, and nobody wants to talk about fraud and abuse”.
2026-08-10 RFK held an event to target food supply and chemical additives.
2026-08-12 There was a multi-state salmonella outbreak in jalapenos.
2026-08-12 When asked about the 30,000 pounds of beef at the border that was not reinspected Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller (R) stated, “Well basically the first time I ever disagreed with Trump about bringing in Argentine beef to start with”, “We also have an agriculture trade deficit. It was about $50B. So, buying more food from outside the US increased our deficit…”
2026-08-13 Grand Central Bakery voluntarily issued a recall of their potato sourdough for food safety concerns, and experts say the surge in recalls is connected to FDA staffing cuts.
2026-08-20 Frozen blueberries were upgraded to high risk by the FDA for E.coli contamination. The classification level is high enough to “likely cause serious harm or death”.
2026-08-25 The Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association argued letting 300K metric tons of imported beef into the US supply chain is bad policy.
2026-08-27 The internet speculated about horse meat mixed with Argentine beef.
2026-08-31 Allegedly China rejected Argentine beef its high levels of chloramphenicol.
2026 September
2026-09-07 Many cattle ranchers who were hit by drought and high costs started selling their herds.