Farmers - farm owners - voted the same way owners in every sector do, they skew Republican. But so what? There are not enough farmers to affect election results. Here in a heavily agricultural district, Harris got 44,000 votes and Trump got 47,000. There are about 300 full time growers. That amounts to 0.003% of the vote. About 45% of the growers here vote Democratic. You may as well bitch about auto parts store owners.
"Go to their MAGA rallies??" A Vance rally here attracted 10,000 people. Vance talked smack about farming. He said that tariffs and mass round ups of immigrants were going to help the farmers, and the crowd roared its approval. "Yeah, we are for the farmers!!!" Clue: they aren't farmers, although they do dress like farmers - as a fashion statement.
The Republicans are not really trying to win the farm vote, the cowboy vote, the lumberjack vote. They are pandering to the Walter Mittys out there, the people who identify with rugged he man images. Reagan on horseback, Bush with his phony ranch, Trump with his macho posturing - the Republicans are masters at playing to people fantasies abiut "real Americans" yippee yi yo ki yay and circle the wagons.
The "subsidies" - Farm Credit, Cooperative Extension, the Land Grant college system, the USDA and state ag departments, the regulatory and inspection protocols, conservation set asides, etc. - are the result of very progressive legislation and are under relentless attack from the right wingers. The purpose of those programs is to support the eaters, not the growers, and those programs are of tremendous benefit to the general public.
Never before in human existence has there been a population more alienated from and ignorant about their own food supply as people are today in the United States. Ignorant attacks on agriculture are far too common here. It is really bad politics.
= new reply since forum marked as read