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 Marks National Agriculture Day as Leaders Gather in Washington to Honor American Agriculture
Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Matthew Schmid, Health & Harvest Campaign Director, recognizing National Agriculture Day and the White House’s celebration of American farmers.
Modifying SNAP Income and Asset Requirements
Americans are a generous people who established the food stamp program to act as a temporary safety net for the most vulnerable. The program, now called SNAP, provides over $850 million in benefits annually to Minnesotans, 100% of which is currently federally-funded. Yet it is the states and local governments that administer the program, with further financial assistance from the federal government, meaning that states, or in the case of Minnesota, counties, are entrusted to manage the program well on behalf of all American taxpayers.
AFPI Applauds Governor Braun for Signing Comprehensive Human Services Reforms into Law
Washington, D.C.—Today, the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) issued the following statement from Matthew Schmid, Health & Harvest Campaign Director, about the Indiana legislature and AFPI Governor’s Council Member Governor Mike Braun passing Senate Bill 1: “Governor Braun’s signature this week on a comprehensive package of welfare reforms provides Indiana with the tools it needs to better preserve taxpayer-funded assistance programs for the Americans who need it most.
Polling Summary: Support For Stronger Guardrails In SNAP Regarding Income & Asset Tests, Citizenship, And Work Requirements
Comment Opposing Surrender and Decommission of the Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project, Project No. 77-332
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