SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. — U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, is worried that President Donald Trump’s new tariffs will have a devastating effect on agriculture.
Stefanik, who supported Trump in the 2016 election, said the president’s proposals will weaken exports including dairy, hurting an industry already struggling with low prices.
“I’m extremely concerned about how this is going to affect our agricultural products and our ability to export,” she said during an April 5 forum attended by more than 200 people.
“I think we need to modernize trade agreements like NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), but I have been concerned about these tariffs leading to a trade war. It’s an area where I disagree with the president.”
Stefanik is running for a third term representing New York’s 21st district, which stretches from the Canadian border to northern Saratoga County.
Stefanik also broke from the president by criticizing his rhetoric about women and calling for the resignation of Scott Pruitt, Trump’s administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt has been under fire for weakening regulations, racking up high travel and security costs, and taking personal and professional actions that have raised ethical questions.
Stefanik won re-election easily in 2016, but more than a half-dozen Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination to challenge her this year, hoping to ride a “blue wave” of anti-Trump sentiment in the midterm congressional elections.
At the meeting, Stefanik said improving the dairy Margin Protection Program is a top priority for her in the 2018 Farm Bill.
“I have a lot of cows in my district. Dairy is incredibly important. Look at Washington and Saratoga counties. It’s a huge economic driver in this region,” she said.
Stefanik held a dairy farmer roundtable in Jefferson County on March 30 to get feedback and suggestions. Her ag advisory team includes farmers from each of the 12 counties she represents.
“Throughout my visits with dairy farmers, one of the recurring complaints I hear is about the failing Margin Protection Program,” she said.
“The Margin Protection Program has failed the Northeast’s dairy producers and is not working as intended. It’s supposed to function as a form of insurance for these low ebbs in milk pricing, but it’s not working. As a result, many farmers have opted out of this program.”
Margin Protection was reworked in a recent budget bill in hopes of improving payouts to farmers.
The law also removed the $20 million annual cap on all livestock insurance, including the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy Cattle program.
This move will give more flexibility to develop additional risk management tools for dairy producers to complement MPP, she said.
Regulatory reform, conservation and rural broadband are also Farm Bill goals.
Legislators must ensure “our last-mile farms are connected to 21st-century technology,” Stefanik said.
Stefanik said effective Farm Bill policy requires a bipartisan effort.
“So we work with Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont,” she said. “When it comes to the Farm Bill, there’s a lot more agreement when you represent agricultural districts.”
On a related note, Stefanik said she co-sponsored the Dairy PRIDE Act, which prohibits nondairy beverages from being called milk.
“For too long, the producers of nondairy beverages such as almond and soy product have unfairly benefited from the ability to label their products as milk. We know the unique benefits dairy milk provides to our health, and I am committed to stopping these unfair marketing practices. I will continue to work in Congress to gain support for these important bills and hope to see them passed and signed into law,” she said.
