Over the past two years the President has directed $28 billion of taxpayer dollars into the U.S. farming sector in an effort to counteract the negative impact of his trade war with China, but the infusion of cash was not enough to save many American farmers. According to CNN, farm bankruptcies were up 20 percent in 2019, reaching the highest level since 2011, which came on the heels of the Great Recession.

An analysis of court data by the American Farm Bureau found 595 Chapter 12 family farm bankruptcies were filed in 2019, almost 100 more than the previous year.

CNN reported that most of the money was given directly to struggling farmers, and “about $4 billion was used to purchase surplus food for food banks and given to groups that promote agricultural aid.”

Still, many family farms went under.

"This loss of farms and this number of farm bankruptcies is deeply disturbing, and completely predictable," Kara O'Connor, government relations director at the Wisconsin Farmers Union, told CNN, blaming overproduction, farm policy, and low prices.

She added that "The trade wars were salt in an existing wound.”

Read the full report.