It’s clear that the Trump administration’s tariffs and international trade war are harming American farmers and showing the weakness of our industrial agriculture model. With international commodity markets vanishing, some small and medium-sized farmers are having to decide if they can keep operating under this level of uncertainty, or if they need to sell off their operations. A government bailout is coming and it will help farmers get by in the short-term, but it is basically placing a bandage on a broken system.

Who will benefit the most from the bailout? The biggest of the big operations that continue to consolidate land and markets. But who needs the bailout the most? The small and medium-sized farmers who might not be able to keep their operations going another season.

We need more small and medium-sized farmers on the land. But this administration’s actions make it clear who they’re listening to most: the Big Guys. We must instead use our public dollars to invest in the long term resiliency of our farm and food system. We must build out reliable markets, create risk supports for those farmers willing to step out of the mainstream corn and soybean system to try something new, and invest in the kind of transportation, distribution, and processing facilities that create a resilient farm and food system. The future of farming is diverse, farmer-led, and stewardship minded, and we need to start building for that future now before it’s too late.