How the lone farmer running a state government is navigating Trump's turbulent policies

Politico

16 hours ago

Those relationships are all the more important. Nebraska agriculture runs our economy. There's other things that are really important, too. Manufacturing. Our Air Force base is off the charts. And we have the most significant insurance industry in the United States.
We've got an incredibly strong economy, but agriculture drives it. We feed the world from Nebraska agriculture and save the planet, and we raise way more than we can consume in the United States and in Nebraska. So international trade is gigantic, and those relationships are important. Everybody we do business [with] understands that we have to have fair, long-term relationships.
I've been a big advocate my whole life that we've been messing up with how we do trade. It has to be fair. It's got to be free. And it's got to be balanced. So when the country is out of whack with trade deficits that we're being severely taken advantage of, it hurts us in a few spots. We're getting dinged right now a little bit [in the agriculture sector], but we're in it for the long haul. Nebraska, farmers and ranchers. We're not publicly traded companies. We're not looking for a return next quarter. We're in it for the next generations. What President Trump's doing, I'm 100 percent with him.
The reconciliation bill includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which benefits 155,000 Nebraskans, 8 percent of the population. What do you think about the state potentially taking up that burden?
Here's what's really, really important to understand. Number one, the people in Nebraska, we've got each other's backs. We step up and take care of people and solve problems. If the federal government is going to have mandates on us and not [support them] economically, we're going to have conversations. If we have to pay for it, we're going to run it our way.
It's simple, we're going to take care of the vulnerable Nebraskans. But again, if the federal government has a program that we have to pay for, we're going to do it the Nebraska way, not the federal government's way.
'The First Furrow' by artist James Penney hangs in a vestibule of the Nebraska State Capitol. | Shia Kapos/POLITICO
What is the Nebraska way?
The Nebraska way is education and innovation, not regulation. People aren't buying pop and candy, they're getting the best value to feed their family.
A bill that you supported during the legislative session would restrict business dealings with foreign adversaries. Would that impact your company doing business with Smithfield Foods, which is owned by a Chinese company?