On America’s farms, worries about regulation, hope for trade deals under Biden

A Democratic administration raises concerns about potentially stricter environmental regulations; less-combative approach to trade expected.

Some farmers said they worry a Democratic White House will mean stricter environmental regulations.

Joe Biden’s election as president raises new questions for a U.S. farm sector whipsawed by turbulent years under President Trump.

Some farmers said they worry a Democratic White House will mean stricter environmental regulations and other restrictions are on the way after the Trump administration eased rules governing water quality, meatpacking-plant operations, genetically engineered crops and greenhouse-gas emissions.

“We have a fear of going backwards,” said Richard Guebert, who raises corn, wheat and soybeans near Ellis Grove, Ill., and serves as president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, a trade group.

Mr. Biden’s farm policies aim to stabilize U.S. agriculture and open up new markets, his campaign officials have said. Stability could come as some relief: President Trump’s tariff battles with major food-importing countries such as China and Mexico at times cut deeply into farm exports and sent commodity markets swooning, battering farmers’ income and prompting the White House to boost government farm payments to record levels.

Farmers nevertheless said in pre-election surveys that they supported the president by large margins, perceiving him as an ally against stricter regulations and higher taxes.

Should Republicans maintain a narrow hold on the Senate, Mr. Biden’s policy goals could be tempered somewhat.

Rob Larew, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Farmers Union, said U.S. farmers have not only been grappling with low commodity prices and trade disruptions but also broader challenges such as industry consolidation and climate change.

While a historic cash infusion from the Trump administration has helped shore up some farmers’ balance sheets, Mr. Larew said he hoped a Biden administration would adopt a more strategic approach to tackling the farm sector’s problems.

“Farmers are not in great shape,” said Mr. Larew. “It’s hard to imagine that the assistance we’ve seen in agriculture is sustainable.” Mr. Biden’s approach to trade negotiations aims to be less combative than his predecessor’s. The former vice president has said he would enlist other nations to mount a broader push for fair-trade practices in dealing with China or other countries. That coalition-building could limit China’s ability to retaliate with its own tariffs on U.S. farm goods, Mr. Biden’s campaign has said, and shield American farmers from market swings.

“China will respond to world pressure,” said Tom Vilsack, who served as Agriculture Department secretary under President Obama and helped to craft Mr. Biden’s rural platform, in a recent interview. “It’s better to give farmers markets, rather than payments.” Anne Schwagerl, an organic grain farmer in western Minnesota, said she struggled to plan around uncertainties brought on by the Trump administration’s trade battles.

“Hopefully a Biden administration brings some stability to our trade policies,” Ms. Schwagerl said. “I am pretty thrilled.” Hog farmers are hopeful that Mr. Biden will bring the U.S. into a trade pact between Pacific-region nations, which President Trump exited shortly after taking office. Howard “A.V.” Roth, president of the National Pork Producers Council and a Wisconsin-based hog farmer, said member countries rank among the world’s biggest pork buyers, representing an opportunity for U.S. livestock producers.

Some farmers fear that Mr. Biden’s administration will give priority to green initiatives that they say translate to red tape and legal liability on farms. Farmers and agriculture industry officials have held up as an example the Obama administration’s 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule, which sought to expand Clean Water Act protections onto more waterways. President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency replaced it with a less restrictive version.

Todd Becker, chief executive of biofuels maker Green Plains Inc., said a Biden EPA may be more favorable to corn-based fuel additives. But major environmental legislation will face hurdles, he said.

“Biden can’t make that big of a move because he doesn’t have the Senate, ” Mr. Becker said. “I don’t think today there’s a path to a Green New Deal.” Mr. Biden has pitched climate-focused policies as a way to protect farmers’ crops and livestock from increasingly harsh and volatile weather. Mr. Biden has called for federal funding to pay farmers for climate friendly practices, like avoiding tillage of soil, that help capture carbon in the ground.

Such a program, which also could involve corporations and charitable groups, would help create new businesses to survey and quantify farmers’ carbon-capturing efforts, the Biden campaign said.

The National Farmers Union’s Mr. Larew said that farmers are among the first to feel the impacts of climate change. “Having an administration that is looking at these issues seriously is one of our hopes for the Biden administration,” he said.

Mr. Biden’s rural plan also calls for regional supply deals that would link farmers with government institutions. Farmers with produce or other products to market could sell into government-financed local food hubs, which would provide locally raised farm goods to schools, hospitals, military bases or prisons, according to the plan.

On farm labor, where the Trump administration’s tougher immigration policies have at times made it harder for meatpacking plants and dairy farms to fill jobs, Mr. Biden has said he would provide a path to legal status for farmworkers, based on their labor history.

Kirk Maltais and Jesse Newman contributed to this article.

The Wall Street Journal