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Sep. 8, 2026
by Tyne Morgan, Farm Journal Kansas City, MO -- Two months after a National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) study revealed U.S. farmers are paying double for some crop production products compared to Brazil, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wants President Trump to turn the same pressure campaign he's aimed at pharmaceutical companies on the seed and chemical industry. The Republican lawmaker sent the ask to Trump, arguing American farmers deserve the same fight the administration has waged on behalf of U.S. drug consumers. In a note shared on Truth Social this week, Grassley made that appeal directly to the president. "President Trump, I ask you to do for American farmers what you have done for consumers of pharmaceutical products," Grassley wrote. Grassley laid out what he sees as the core problem in blunt terms, saying American companies that produce seed, fertilizer and chemicals are selling those same products overseas, and particularly into Brazil, at "great discounts unfair to the American farmer." Those input price disparity findings between the U.S. and Brazil were released in a study commissioned by NCGA, one that took the ag industry by storm, with farmers saying the study only confirmed what they felt for years. The Study Behind the Ask Grassley's post leans directly on the Kynetec analysis NCGA commissioned, which compared what U.S. and Brazilian corn and soybean growers paid for seed and crop protection products from 2023 through 2025. AgWeb first reported on those findings this summer. To read that report click here. Those figures held up even after Kynetec adjusted for taxes, currency swings and purchasing power -- meaning exchange rates alone don't explain why an American farmer's input bill looks so different from a Brazilian farmer's for what is often a comparable product. NCGA Chief Economist Krista Swanson has said the timing matters as much as the size of the gap. Farmers lock in seed and crop protection purchases months before they know what the crop, or even the market, will actually deliver, and unlike input costs, the price of corn and soybeans doesn't come with a "Made in the USA" premium attached. Why Grassley Is Framing It as a Pharma Problem The Trump administration has spent much of the past two years pushing drugmakers to close the gap between what Americans pay for prescription drugs and what other countries pay for the same medications, using public pressure and trade leverage to squeeze down U.S. list prices. Grassley's argument is that farmers are living a version of the same story -- American-made inputs sold cheaper abroad than at home -- without the same White House attention. If that pressure worked on pharmaceutical companies, Grassley's message suggests, it should work on the seed and chemical industry too. While Trump didn't say if he'd follow-through with Grassley's ask, he simply posted Grassley's message on Truth Social, without any explanation or clues on what's next. To read the entire report click here. Tweet |
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