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
Latest
AFPI Applauds USDA SNAP Waiver Approvals for Louisiana, West Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas
Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Governor Bobby Jindal, Chair of Healthy America and Sarah Frey, Senior Advisor for Rural Policy:
We Must Protect One of Our Greatest National Assets from China
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), a regime that has openly promised to overtake us as the world’s superpower by all means at its disposal, has already used agricultural espionage to further its malign goals.
USDA Reorganization is the Right Move for Our States
Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Stephanie Whitt, Chief State Action and Engagement Officer:
China’s War on American Agriculture Exposed
The America First Policy Institute hosted a timely and urgent one-on-one interview at AFPI Studios with Congressman Zach Nunn (IA-03), who sat down with Adam Savit to expose how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is waging a silent war on America’s food security, farmland, and agricultural innovation.
The One Big Beautiful Bill puts American Farmers and Taxpayers First
Consistent with recommendations in the America First Policy Institute’s (AFPI) Farmers First Agenda, the newly signed into law One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) delivers meaningful tax and agricultural policy wins to American farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.