Aware of the anger in rural areas, the Trump administration promised, three weeks before the midterms, $8 billion in aid for farmers. During the summer, he also negotiated in advance the sale of part of his 2027 harvest, to guarantee a fair price.
With his wife, who also has another job, they dedicate their evenings and weekends to the cultivation of 50 hectares of corn and soybeans, sown on land that they have rented since 2021 from a landowner living on the west coast.
Two hours' drive further north, the tractors have already passed through the fields of Jacob Bolson, who must incur many other costs for his farm.
In Iowa, a small rural state that most often votes red, the color of conservatives, the increase in bills could tip the scales in favor of the Democrats.
“This year, over the same period, it cost me $750,” said the farmer, illustrating a bill three times higher. “Cereal prices were relatively high, and this made it possible to limit the effect of the increase in diesel and fertilizers. But they have fallen, and the situation is becoming more difficult,” noted Jacob Bolson bitterly.