The Trump administration has oscillated in recent weeks between pledging to renegotiate and threatening to withdraw from NAFTA. This back and forth is a major cause for concern and looming economic uncertainty for the agricultural community.

The effects of NAFTA withdrawal would fall particularly hard on U.S. farmers and ranchers. And the threat comes at a time when the challenges of rural poverty and development demand policy solutions. As Congress begins to piece together the 2018 Farm Bill, it is of utmost importance to disabuse policymakers of the notion that farm subsidies are a silver bullet in the fight against rural poverty. In fact, farm subsidies do not meaningfully help most rural Americans.