October 8, 2025
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Trump,
We appreciate your continued commitment to the producers who grow America’s food, fuel, and fiber. While the administration’s America First trade policy looks to correct decades-long inequities in trade around the world, trading partners, particularly China, are targeting American farmers as part of their negotiation strategy. We endorse the efforts outlined in the recent producer assistance letter and write today to call out an equally vital truth: the health of American agriculture depends not only on its farmers, but also on the cooperative enterprises and value-chain partners that connect farms to markets, consumers, and communities.
When farmer-owned cooperatives falter, America falters. When farmers lose essential services, entire regional economies weaken. Co-ops are the backbone of rural economies. They aggregate production, market commodities, manage storage and transportation, and reinvest profits in local
communities. For that reason, we urge your administration to consider relief and policy measures that stabilize the agricultural supply chain.
Direct support for producers and their supply chain partners is necessary. We respectfully urge your administration to consider the following additional policy priorities to strengthen the agricultural value chain and reduce cost pressures throughout the system:
- Expand Access to Agricultural Labor
We appreciate your work to modernize the H-2A visa program. We urge the administration to provide immediate relief via executive and administrative action for America’s farmers and the cooperatives they own to ensure short-term labor availability through work authorization for current, experienced workers and improved access to the H-2A program to prevent significant operation and supply chain disruptions. - Reduce Input Costs by Addressing Fertilizer and Chemical Tariffs
Tariffs and trade restrictions on key fertilizers and crop protection products are driving up production costs. Suspending tariffs on farm inputs would provide immediate relief and improve competitiveness across the sector. - Expand Market Opportunities Through Biofuels and E15
We strongly support the administration’s efforts to expand year-round E15 sales and to modernize infrastructure supporting ethanol and other biofuels. These policies create new demand for American crops, enhance energy independence, and provide rural cooperatives with investment and job opportunities. - Invest in Critical Infrastructure and Logistics Efficiency
Cooperative-owned storage, transportation, rail, and port assets are vital to maintaining the integrity of supply chains. Federal investment and permitting reforms that accelerate upgrades to these systems, including rural broadband and energy infrastructure, would strengthen national resilience and reduce logistical costs. - Promote New Trade Markets
We applaud the administration’s improvements to the Export Credit Guarantee Program and increased funding for trade promotion programs to expand market access abroad. These efforts, combined with concluding trade deals to open new markets while resolving existing trade disputes to reduce non-tariff trade barriers, are necessary to find a permanent solution to the current rural economic crisis.
Combined, these actions would allow the agricultural supply chain to continue to provide American-grown food, fuel and fiber which strengthens national security. Rural America needs immediate relief, but we stand ready to work with the administration to meet these challenges.
Thank you for your leadership and for your continued commitment to the American farmer and the cooperative businesses they own.
Respectfully,
Duane Simpson
President & CEO
