Policy Priorities

  • Drive Rural Prosperity

  • Right-Size and Reorient Government

  • Generate Responsible Nutrition Policy

Download Farmers First Agenda Press Kit

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

Latest

Fact Sheet | August 21, 2025

Prohibiting America’s Adversaries From Owning Sensitive Land

Farm security is national security. Our foreign adversaries, primarily the People’s Republic of China (PRC), own large swaths of agricultural land across our country. Every acre of this land could potentially be used as a platform for surveillance or sabotage. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime has openly promised to overtake us as the world’s superpower by all means at its disposal, and has already used American land to undermine our national security.

Op-Ed | August 19, 2025

One Big Beautiful Win for America’s Farmers and Taxpayers

While farmers and ranchers might be America’s backbone, their fate is too often decided by the D.C. Swamp, and not by their neighbors in America’s Breadbasket. On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), the largest U.S. middle- and working-class tax cuts in history. While the OBBB ultimately benefits all Americans, it will have a profound impact on farmers, ranchers, and rural communities, thereby laying the foundation for a new era of rural prosperity.

Statement | August 13, 2025

AFPI Applauds EPA Guidance That Helps Keep Trucks and Tractors Working—and America Moving

The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) today welcomed the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) guidance, developed in partnership with industry leaders and workers, to help prevent sudden shutdowns, give drivers and farmers time to fix issues, and keep freight and farm work running on schedule, while continuing to protect air quality.

News Release | August 13, 2025

AFPI Releases New Agricultural Trade Policy Brief

Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) unveiled its latest agricultural policy brief at the Midwest Agricultural Export Summit in South Dakota. The brief was authored by Kip Tom, Vice Chair of Rural Policy and Tate Bennett, Director of Rural Policy, and reflects much of the conversation surrounding the theme of the summit: “Fixing the Agricultural Trade Deficit.”

Policy | August 13, 2025

Driving Rural Prosperity by Reducing the U.S. Agricultural Trade Deficit

Agriculture and subsistence farming were among the primary professions at the time of our nation’s founding; professions which helped our fledging nation move westward.

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