On November 8th, the United States elected Donald Trump to be the 45th president of the country. Trump will assume the office in January 2017, and the policies that his administration enacts will impact America’s future for a long time, including in the way the government handles food and agriculture.
For example, Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned his plans to slash regulations set in place by both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. Since Trump, a Republican, has a majority of his party represented in Congress, it is possible for there to be a cut back on regulations to those agencies.
Trump has also threatened to remove the Environmental Protection Agency altogether. This places both human and environmental health at risk since the EPA is the agency responsible for determining whether farming operations have negative impacts in those areas.
Governmental food assistance programs might also face extensive challenges under the Trump Administration. For example, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) is currently funded by the Farm Bill, which is passed every five years. However, the 2016 Republican platform called for removing the SNAP program from the Farm Bill which would then make it more susceptible to budget cuts.
Currently, the SNAP program provides assistance to over 43 million Americans. A large percentage of those receiving SNAP benefits are children, disabled adults, and senior citizens. Budget cuts to the SNAP program could place millions of Americans in danger of losing their food security assistance and worsening the issues of hunger in America.
However, the 2016 Republican platform called for removing the SNAP program from the Farm Bill which would then make it more susceptible to budget cuts.
Although it is unclear at the current moment how much of Trump’s rhetoric in regards to food and agricultural policies will be enacted, it’s clear that there’s a threat of severe budget cuts or elimination of these programs and agencies that would negatively impact millions of people.