While the Kamala Harris/Donald Trump debate took the spotlight this week, Farm Foundation hosted a forum on Monday that focused more specifically on the farm policy of each party’s candidate.

Moderated by Kristina Peterson with The Wall Street Journal, The Agricultural Platforms of the Candidates for President of the United States featured Kip Tom, Farmers and Ranchers for Trump Coalition, for the Republican platform, while the Democratic platform was advocated for by Rod Snyder, former Senior Advisor for Agriculture for EPA in the Biden-Harris Administration. Topics covered included the farm bill, agricultural trade, environmental policy, farm labor and immigration, and biofuels policy.

Snyder, who recently stepped down from his position with EPA, outlined the accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration in the area of rural development, and pointed out the record of Gov. Tim Walz during his 12 years in Congress, “where he served 6 terms on the House Agriculture Committee and helped write three farm bills.” In his opening remarks, Snyder expressed concerns about how Trump policies on trade and immigration would impact agriculture. “Roughly 70% of ag workers in the United States are foreign born, and nearly half of those are undocumented,” said Snyder. “Trump is promising mass deportation on an unprecedented scale without any consideration for our country’s ag system, food prices, or least of all, the human toll.”

Tom, an Indiana farmer who served as US Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture under President Trump, stressed the success of Trump’s trade policies, the impact of overregulation, and the need to control illegal immigration, as well as his concerns about reliance on foreign inputs. “Nearly 70% of the crop care products that we use in the United States are produced abroad, much in India, but primarily in China,” said Tom. “Imagine if they hit the kill switch… we couldn’t have the products that we need to fight back against the weeds, insects and diseases that we have in our crops or the the pharmaceutical or the drugs that we need for our livestock to keep them healthy.”

Their brief opening statements were followed by a lively discussion that included questions from the audience at the National Press Club that is well worth watching. Watch the whole forum here.

Listen to opening statements here:
Farm Foundation forum opening statements (18:57)