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submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

Michigan farmer Rebecca Carlson, a longtime Trump supporter, faces bankruptcy as Trump’s funding freezes stall a $400,000 USDA grant for hiring temporary workers.

Carlson, who hoped Trump’s second term would revive her struggling cherry farm, already spent $200,000 preparing for labor under the H-2A visa program.

With funding halted, she risks losing $200,000 more and can’t move forward with critical hires.

Trump’s new tariffs and immigration crackdowns threaten agriculture costs and labor availability, leaving farmers uncertain and frustrated with unmet promises.

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[-] HighFructoseLowStand@lemm.ee 80 points 2 weeks ago

I seriously hate these people more than Trump.

I mean, did they do literally no research into what his policy proposals were? What the repercussions would be for those in her line of work? Did it not occur to her that the migrants she pays shit wages to were the people he was ranting about deporting?

The answer, of course, is no. She did no research. She dedicated no meaningful thought to it. She wanted to fuck the liberals because they put Harriet Tubman on a twenty dollar bill and she heard about the three trans athletes in her entire state and that was about where her consideration of the matter ended.

On a just barely positive note, we dedicate a frankly stupid amount of funding to keeping farms going despite their being laughably uncompetitive, most of the funding not really helping our food supply or economy, so it would probably be for the better if these cuts stick and idiots like her are forced to actually run their farms like businesses instead of thousand acre welfare queens.

[-] Benjaben@lemmy.world 40 points 2 weeks ago

thousand acre welfare queens

Holy shit lol

[-] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 2 weeks ago

She is racist.

That's why she voted for Trump.

All the excuses she gives are secondary to the fact that she's white and hates seeing non-whites who didn't work as hard as her get government cheese.

These people voted Trump not because of "fuck the libs" or "save my farm" but because, they were first and foremost, racists.

[-] jewbacca117@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

You are right but it still makes me sad that she's just going to get gobbled up by some factory farm. Some about leopards and faces I guess.

[-] Blum0108@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

That is literally what will happen if small farms go under. This would make our food supply chain even more homogeneous and less resilient. And probably increase costs at the supermarket as a result. It's too bad so many of these farmers are actively voting against their actual interests instead. For many of them the "find out" phase will hit them like a semi truck and they will never recover.

[-] tourist@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.

Lyndon B Johnson

(Why did I think it was Steinbeck)

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[-] kent_eh@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I mean, did they do literally no research into what his policy proposals were?

They "researched" hard enough to see the (R) beside his name and voted based on that research.

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[-] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 79 points 2 weeks ago

So let me get this straight: she had everything planned and set up under the policies of the Biden administration, everything was working fine and a large part of the plan were immigrant workers. So naturally she voted for Trump. I struggle to empathize, tbh.

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 35 points 2 weeks ago

Struggle to empathize? I'm reading this with glee.

[-] abbadon420@lemm.ee 33 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

In Dutch we have a saying: "Wie zijn billen brand moet op de blaren zitten" ->( if you burn your asscheeks, you have to sit on the blisters). It means that if you do something stupid, you have to suffer the consequences

[-] can@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago

I like that

It's only half-topical, but let me say one thing: farmers are romanticised waaay too much in my opinion. Yes, they usually have a more precarious business, and agriculture as such is, of course, very much the foundation of our societies and very lives.

But don't be blinded by the image of homesteading and such - most farmers are basically just business owners, with their class interests often removing them from a large part of the population. Many of the seasonal workers for example have shit pay on top of shit conditions, and they are notoriously overrepresented with some kind of "rurally wholesome" image, when they can be just as much business assholes, that mainly own a piece of land and the machinery necessary to use it for agriculture.

This will only get worse, because bankruptcy like this has one main effect: consolidation, even more farmland operated by big business, even though I personally think small business like this one is clearly already not as good as people tend to make it out as.

[-] shawn1122@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago

People romanticize farming because it was the basis of society and its economy 100 years ago. Agriculture was key to human survival for millenia before that.

In our increasingly tech driven lives, there's something pure about your work being dedicated to cultivating the earth and bringing sustenance to people.

But there are modern US farm owners that harken the image of plantation owners during America's chattel slavery era. Exploiting undocumented workers with undignified working conditions and paying them insufficiently in exchange for irreversibly wearing down their bodies.

[-] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 2 weeks ago

Agreed, and to add to this, I grew up in farmland and have never met a broke farmer. These folks are typically quite wealthy thanks to massive government subsidies. Huge modern home, brand new cars, plenty of toys like ATVs. They're not living the same life as the standard working class.

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[-] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago

... Holy shit, this woman is fucking dumb and deserves to lose her farm.

-~~wanted~~ Needed a grant from the Government.

-Needed to hire migrant workers.

-Voted for the guy saying he was going to gut federal funding programs and close the borders.

[-] Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com 30 points 2 weeks ago
[-] MSugarhill@discuss.tchncs.de 27 points 2 weeks ago

Sorry, I would care. But your leader told me that empathy is humanity's biggest weakness.

That said. How the fuck can the richest country in the world have less social security than any country in Europe? How the fuck do you even survive until your 18?

[-] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

We’re only the richest country in the world because we have roughly a football-stadium sized number of billionaires and multi-millionaires. The remaining 300+ million of us have largely been brainwashed to believe we need to sacrifice everything to prop them up.

[-] GooberEar@lemmy.wtf 24 points 2 weeks ago

I'm sorry, if you're growing cherries, fucking expensive ass cherries, and can't stay afloat without almost a half million dollars of welfare, then what the fuck are you even doing? I don't fully agree with it, but I at least understand the importance of giving welfare to people growing crops we actually need, but frivolous shit like cherries? What a waste. If we're paying almost a half million dollars in taxes to give you cherry welfare, those cherries better be free or close to it.

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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

She sounds pretty dumb. Maybe someone smarter will take over the farm.

[-] klu9@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 weeks ago
[-] lostoncalantha@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Hopefully her farm does go under. These people are not going to learn until they face the consequences in their daily life. This country will have to tear itself apart before we wake up.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago

She will still vote Republican as a bag lady, I'm afraid.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 weeks ago

They get a $400k grant for free (previous years?) and struggle to keep the farm running?

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago

Indeed. What did they think "welfare" is?

[-] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

No no no. It’s only welfare if you get it. It’s critical operating capital if they get it.

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[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago

There seems to be a huge disconnect between supporting trump and paying attention.

[-] Albbi@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 weeks ago
[-] couch1potato@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 weeks ago

This got me 😂

[-] TransplantedSconie@lemm.ee 12 points 2 weeks ago

Sorry. Zero fucks given over this idiots sob-story.

Fuck around

Find out <------- they are here

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[-] not_that_guy05@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Oh no. Anyway.

[-] leadore@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Her farm had been awarded a grant worth $400,000 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for the costs associated with hiring seasonal workers from overseas through the H-2A visa program, which farmers have used for years to hire temporary agricultural workers.

The USDA describes the program on its website as a way to address labor shortages on American farms and reduce illegal immigration. It's backed by $65 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan, a Covid stimulus bill passed in 2021.

IOW she was only getting that $400K because of a program funded under Biden. Which of course is why trump is freezing it, along with programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, also passed under Biden. He wants to undo everything Biden did.

Carlson has been trying to get an answer from the USDA about the status of her grant, but her grant manager told her that they were “awaiting guidance from leadership.” When she followed up more recently, she received an out-of-office email.

Because they got fired!

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago

Why would she need a grant for hiring workers when they are about to be deported?

Anyway, dear Leopard, have a nice lunch of faces.

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Zero fucking sympathy for the longtime Nazi and Russian supporting POS. Don't worry, your farm will end up in corporate hands thanks to your pure racist stupidity.

[-] Toneswirly@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Why would you vote Trump if youre relying on federal grant money? Its not like he hid the fact tbat he was gonna slash and burn govt programs. People really need to pay the fuck attention to what theyre voting for...jesus christ.

[-] darvocet@infosec.pub 12 points 2 weeks ago

Imagine someone with totally average intelligence. Then realize 50% of people are dumber than that. Also - they think they are smart.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago

And this is why trump just turfed the department of education.

[-] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It's clear to me close to half the population stopped thinking after they heard "make America great again".

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[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

“I was expecting to see a drastic turnaround for the better for my farm because the Republicans have always been for the American farmer,” said Carlson, a longtime Republican and Trump supporter.

When?

Seriously, when have Republicans ever actually been there for American farmers, or even just Americans that aren't millionaires at the least? Seriously, please point out a single law enacted by Republicans that wasn't there to benefit the richest layer of the US?

Yeah Democrats are spineless idiots but Democrats at least left stable economies after receiving shit economies from a Republican. Seriously, look it up, it's funny to actually see it. They actually made things marginally better for everyone instead of a very select few

So, when?

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

______ voted for Trump. Now, Trump's decision to _____ will hurt them.

On repeat.

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[-] RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago
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this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2025
234 points (99.2% liked)

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