Policy Priorities
Drive Rural Prosperity
Right-Size and Reorient Government
Generate Responsible Nutrition Policy
The America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Farmers First Agenda is foundational to our prospective rural policy work. Uniquely crafted by individuals with real-world farming and policy experience, the Farmers First Agenda provides rural Americans with peace of mind that AFPI has their best interests at heart. AFPI is working to ensure rural America is prosperous and healthy again, which is important because our rural communities are responsible for providing a reliable, abundant, and affordable domestic food supply to our great Nation and the world.
President Abraham Lincoln once said that “no other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought as agriculture” (Lincoln, 1859).
As we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence in 2026, we are reminded that agriculture and subsistence farming are foundational to the United States, as these were primary professions at the time of our Nation’s founding. As the population expanded into the great American frontier, farmers and smallholders rose to the occasion by both fulfilling demand in the domestic market and by generating exports, especially after Industrialization. Farmers faced excruciating hardship when the Dust Bowl coincided with the Great Depression, serving as the major impetus for establishing programs that protect highly erodible soil and conserve water. Modernizations in farming techniques, along with new agricultural policies in Washington, D.C., have afforded our farmers more prosperous future decades. In a sentence: The faith, grit, adeptness, and determination of the American farmer have always carried the profession forward.
Team
Christie Mullin
Chair, Rural Policy
Kip Tom
Vice Chair of Rural Policy
Sarah Frey
Senior Advisor for Rural Policy
Matthew Schmid
Public Affairs Director, Rural America and Security, Midwest
T.J. Wilson
Deputy Director, Rural Policy
Hayden L. Ballard
Senior Policy Analyst, Rural Policy
Paden Hughes
Analyst, Rural Policy
Topics
- Rural Prosperity
- Farmers First
- American Land Protection
- Responsible Nutrition Policy
- Criminal Justice & Public Safety
- The Courts
- Government Weaponization
- Trade
- Work & Jobs
- American Dream
- K-12 Education Freedom
- Energy
- Environment
- Budget, Spending, & Taxes
- Government De-Regulation
- The Administrative State
- Regulatory Reform
- Healthcare Reform
- Public Health
- Border & Immigration
- Asia
- Defense
- China Policy Initiative
- Faith & Religious Liberty