USDA Reform and America-First Agricultural Policy

USDA must return to being "the people's department" focused on farmers and ranchers.

The department has drifted into a catch-all for 29 sub-agencies and 200B+ annual spending; 70 % of the budget is SNAP, not agriculture.

Why: Lincoln created USDA so rural America had representation; if the agency loses that focus, family farms disappear and national security erodes.

"the USDA is the people's department. That was what President Lincoln's vision was"

Food security is national security.

Losing tens of thousands of family farms per decade threatens the ability to feed ourselves; foreign ownership of farmland and meat-packers compounds the risk.

Why: A nation that cannot feed itself must rely on adversaries like China or Brazil, forfeiting global leverage.

"food security is national security"

Farmers take government checks only to stay in the black, not because they want handouts.

Subsidies are a national-security stop-gap; the long-term goal is profitable markets so checks can be rolled back.

Why: Dependency distorts markets and erodes the dignity of the most "righteous of all professions"; prosperity should come from sales, not subsidies.

"these farmers don't want all these checks. I mean, they take them, it's the way they stay in the black"

Taxpayer dollars should not fund sugary drinks and junk food that fuel obesity and chronic disease.

15 B USD of SNAP (123 B total) is spent on soda; 75 % of participants are clinically obese; 74 % of teens fail military readiness tests.

Why: Front-end junk-food spending plus back-end Medicaid costs for diabetes threatens to bankrupt states and the nation.

"why are taxpayer dollars, billions of taxpayer dollars being spent on sugary drinks and junk food"

Push authority to the states via waivers while inviting innovation.

Within an hour of being sworn in, 50 letters went to governors asking for SNAP waivers and reform ideas.

Why: Founders’ 10th-Amendment vision allows 50 laboratories to pilot healthier, more efficient nutrition programs.

"we want in the founders best vision of the 10th Amendment to allow the states to build those programs"

Fair markets first, freer markets second—tariffs are leverage to secure parity.

Argentina, Brazil, China, and the UK impose non-tariff barriers on U.S. beef, corn, and pork; Trump-era renegotiations aim to open new markets in India, Japan, South Korea, Peru, and the UK.

Why: Unilateral free trade while competitors protect their markets has hollowed out U.S. agriculture; reciprocity restores profitability.

"not free markets for the sake of free markets, but fair markets for the sake of America"

A legal, reliable workforce is critical for labor-intensive agriculture.

California and Florida report 20 % shortages; specialty-crop labor costs have tripled since pre-COVID; dairy needs year-round workers, not seasonal visas.

Why: Without labor fixes, domestic production moves overseas and national security erodes.

"the president himself said... we will ensure that there's some sort of program in place that will help make sure that our farmers... have the labor that they need"

Embed external technologists to identify waste without gutting essential programs.

AFPI + DOGE have canceled 6 B USD in small contracts and grants (e.g., studying transgender menstruation in male mice) while protecting crop insurance.

Why: Private-sector talent + political outsiders break bureaucratic capture and keep reforms from being rolled back.

"I pulled him aside and I said, I hope this isn't true. This country needs you and your team forever"