Former President Trump’s pick of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate makes it clear: The GOP ticket will be running on an America First agenda this fall.
“It’s a new generation of the conservative populism of Donald Trump, and that has served America’s farmers very, very well,” Jeff Kaufmann, the Iowa Republican Party chairman and a seventh-generation livestock producer, said of Vance in an interview with Agri-Pulse.
Vance, a proponent of tariffs and protecting U.S. industries, has only been in the Senate since January 2023, and has very little record on agriculture issues. But he has strongly defended the use of tariffs in trade policy.
In an interview with CBS News in May, he said, “I certainly agree that we need to apply some broad-based tariffs, especially on goods coming in from China, and not just solar panels and EV stuff. What you end up doing is you end up making more stuff in America, in Pennsylvania, in Ohio and in Michigan.” Trump is proposing an across-the-board tariff on all imported products.
Take note: It
A sign on the convention floor reflects the new VP nominee’s not just trade policy where Vance is sympathetic to worker concerns. During an interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, Vance recounted listening to a corporate executive in 2018 complain that slowing immigration rates had forced his company to pay U.S. workers higher wages.
“The fact that this guy saw me as sympathetic to his problem, and not the problem of the workers, made me realize that I’m on a train that has its own momentum and I have to get off this train, or I’m going to wake up in 10 years and really hate everything that I’ve become.”
On ag policy: Duane Stateler, an Ohio hog producer who’s attending the RNC this week, has been getting Vance up to speed on his industry’s issues. Stateler, who’s president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, told Agri-Pulse’s Lydia Johnson that he has advised Vance on Proposition 12, the California initiative that regulates sow housing for pork sold in the state.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine fields questions about Vance and a possible Senate replacement. “Once he gets into the groove, he’s been a strong supporter of our industry,” Stateler said of Vance.
Fred Yoder, an Ohio farmer and former president of the National Corn Growers Association, said in an email to Agri-Pulse he has been impressed with what he described as Vance’s common-sense approach to issues.
“I do think he supports ethanol and biodiesel's potential to become a solution in Sustainable Aviation Fuel as well as become a solid bridge to more electric vehicles until the markets are ready for them. He is not for additional subsidies to keep agriculture afloat until export markets improve. His market solutions are received very well in farm country,” Yoder said.
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Thompson, Boozman praise Vance pick
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., and the ranking member of Senate Ag, John Boozman of Arkansas, both praised Vance in separate interviews on the convention floor Monday.
“He understands rural America,” Thompson said of Vance, citing the senator’s best-selling book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
While Vance has little record on farm policy, Thompson noted, “He's obviously from an agriculture state, and that's important.”
Boozman suggested a Trump-Vance administration would help pass a farm bill that increases commodity price supports.
“I think 
Vance thronged by delegates. that President Trump understands how important rural America is, and they've been solidly behind him. So, I hope that we get a farm bill done before the end of this year. On the other hand, if it does push into next year, I think that JD will be a help in actually getting our farm bill policy up from 2018 policy to the current day,” Boozman said, referring to the 2018 farm bill.
Boozman also noted Vance’s roots in Ohio, a “very big ag state.” Boozman went on, “I will sit down in the very near future and talk to him specifically about some of the ag policy that we're trying to get done.”
On tap today: Illegal immigration gets top billing again today, when the theme of the RNC is “Make America Safe Once Again.”
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers hosted a policy discussion at Komatsu's South Harbor Campus in Milwaukee. From left: Kate Fox Wood, AEM vice president, federal affairs, Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty; and Kip Eideberg, AEM senior vice president, government and industry relations.Chemical-specific analyses to be conducted on pesticide spray exposures
EPA says it will conduct chemical-specific analyses of pesticides to determine the potential for people to be exposed during and after spraying.
The requirements will apply to new pesticide registrations and when registrants seek to add new uses to their existing approvals. In addition, “when possible,” EPA says it will perform the analyses for pending registrations.
The agency says that by “assessing the amount of a pesticide that drifts beyond its intended target,” EPA can come up with ways to protect neighbors or other people nearby, such as farmworkers, from exposure.
“This change is also consistent with the agency's commitment to address environmental justice concerns from pesticide use in and around farm communities and to comply with the Endangered Species Act, where EPA is working to improve how it evaluates risk to and protects endangered species,” EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs says.
Avian flu cases confirmed in Colorado poultry workers
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is reporting five cases of avian influenza in workers who responded to an outbreak at a commercial egg layer operation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed four of the cases.
“The workers were culling poultry at a farm in northeast Colorado and exhibited mild symptoms, including conjunctivitis (pink eye) and common respiratory infection symptoms,” the department says. None had to go to the hospital.
State epidemiologists suspect the infections came from working directly with infected poultry.
Four people who worked with dairy cows have been infected so far this year, including one in Colorado. Before that, the only person in the U.S. known to have gotten bird flu was a poultry worker in Colorado, in 2022.
USDA awards farm-to-school grants
USDA is awarding $14.3 million in grants to increase access to local foods in school meals and summer federal feeding programs. The awards, part of the Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants, are going to 154 projects in 43 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. Three agricultural producers are among this year’s grantees.
These funds will help child nutrition program operators include local foods into meals served through the National School Lunch Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and SUN Programs. It also provides educational opportunities for children to learn about agriculture through hands-on experience like planting and harvesting fruits, vegetables and herbs.
“When schools have access to fresh, local food options with homegrown flavor, they can serve delicious, healthy dishes that kids are excited to eat, while also supporting the local economy,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Rebekah Alvey, Philip Brasher and Lydia Johnson contributed to today’s Daybreak.
