U.S. Representative Tracey Mann of Kansas recently stated on television: “American agriculture has no stronger champion than President Trump. After four years of President Biden being asleep at the wheel, @potus is bridging the gap from four years of chaos into a new golden age for American agriculture. Thank you, President Trump, for standing with our nation’s farmers and giving them much-needed relief.”
The statement’s characterization of the Biden years as a period where the administration was “asleep at the wheel” leading to “four years of chaos” is not supported by agricultural economic data.
Evaluation of “Four Years of Biden Being Asleep at the Wheel”
This characterization is contradicted by USDA economic data. During the Biden administration years (2021-2024), American agriculture experienced some of its strongest financial performance in history. Net farm income in 2021, 2022, and 2023 represented three of the highest years on record, with 2022 reaching a record $183-196 billion. Throughout all four Biden years, farm income remained above the 20-year average, even after adjusting for inflation.
According to USDA’s Economic Research Service, the period from 2021-2023 represented the highest level of farm income in the last 50 years. Agricultural exports also achieved record levels during this period, with the four largest annual export values on record occurring between 2021 and 2024, including a peak of $196 billion in agricultural exports in 2022.
The Biden administration’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reported securing over $26.7 billion in agricultural market access across the globe, with the four-year average of U.S. agriculture exports increasing by 28.5 percent compared to the previous four years. This included removing tariff and non-tariff barriers in countries like India, which dropped 10 agricultural tariffs during this period.
Evaluation of “Bridging the Gap from Four Years of Chaos”
The economic data presents a different picture than the characterization of “chaos.” Farm household income during the Biden years remained consistently above the median U.S. household income. In 2023, median farm household income was $97,984, significantly higher than the median U.S. household income of $80,610.
The claim about Trump “bridging the gap” requires important context. Trump has been in office since January 20, 2025, making this statement from early December 2025 less than one year into his second term. The $12 billion “Farm Bridge Assistance” program announced on December 8, 2025, was explicitly designed to help farmers hurt by Trump’s own tariff policies.
Analysis of the Relief Programs
The relief Trump is providing needs to be understood in its proper context. The $12 billion bailout announced in December 2025 was necessary because Trump’s tariff policies triggered a trade war with China, which responded by blocking purchases of U.S. soybeans throughout most of the fall 2025 harvest season. China had been the largest buyer of U.S. soybeans, typically purchasing about 27 million metric tons annually.
According to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins at the White House announcement, the program was intended to provide support for farmers until Trump’s economic policies “take greater effect,” and to help them “bridge the gap between Biden’s failures and the President’s successful policies taking effect.” However, the farmers being bailed out were specifically harmed by Trump’s tariffs, not by any Biden administration policies.
This pattern mirrors Trump’s first term, when he provided approximately $28 billion in bailouts to farmers in 2018 and 2019 to compensate for losses from his trade war with China during that period. The current situation involves similar dynamics with China retaliating against U.S. agricultural exports in response to Trump’s tariffs.
Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association, noted at the time of the announcement that farmers needed markets, not just bailouts, saying the $12 billion was “a start, but I think we need to be looking for some avenues to find other funding opportunities and we need to get our markets going.”
The Disaster Relief Component
A significant portion of the assistance farmers are receiving actually comes from legislation passed by Congress in December 2024, before Trump took office. The American Relief Act of 2025 provided nearly $31 billion in disaster assistance for farmers and ranchers who suffered losses from natural disasters in 2023 and 2024 (hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, etc.). This congressionally mandated assistance has been distributed by the Trump administration’s USDA since March 2025, but the funding and authorization came from Congress, not from a Trump initiative.
The American Relief Act included approximately $10 billion specifically for economic assistance to offset lower crop revenues facing historically high input costs, plus another $21 billion for natural disaster relief. These programs were being implemented by Agriculture Secretary Rollins under Trump’s administration, but they represent congressional action responding to conditions that developed during 2023-2024.
Assessment of “No Stronger Champion”
The claim that “American agriculture has no stronger champion than President Trump” is inherently subjective and cannot be objectively verified. However, the factual record shows that the relief Trump is providing addresses problems largely created by his own trade policies. The American Soybean Association and other farm groups have repeatedly stated they want market access, not government bailouts, even while appreciating the financial assistance during difficult times.
Agricultural economists and farmers themselves have described the $12 billion bailout as a “Band-Aid on a bigger wound” that doesn’t address the fundamental structural problems facing agriculture, including input costs driven by corporate consolidation and the loss of export markets due to trade tensions.
Conclusion
The statement’s characterization of the Biden years as a period where the administration was “asleep at the wheel” leading to “four years of chaos” is not supported by agricultural economic data. The Biden years saw record or near-record farm incomes and significant gains in export markets. The current relief being provided is largely addressing problems created by Trump’s own tariff policies, not by Biden administration failures. While farmers are receiving financial assistance, much of it stems from congressional disaster appropriations for natural disasters in 2023-2024, rather than from Trump administration initiatives specifically.
The claim conflates necessary disaster relief (from Congress) with bailouts for self-inflicted trade war damage, and mischaracterizes the strong agricultural economy of 2021-2024 as a period of neglect and chaos.