⁍ As hunger rises in America, the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout is under scrutiny.

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⁍ U.S. President Donald Trump has funneled a record amount of aid to the agricultural sector.

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⁍ Nearly 92% of farmers in Wisconsin received less aid than it costs to run an average dairy in the state for a month.

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– Hunger is on the rise, particularly in rural states, after a decade of decline, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Rising crop and livestock prices bled into grocery stores. The cost of bread jumped nearly 20% in June, while meat increased 17%, according to market research firm Nielsen. Rising crop and livestock prices bled into grocery stores. The Trump administration has paid farmers nearly $18 billion in direct payments since June through its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), but nearly 92% of farmers in Wisconsin received less aid than it costs to run an average dairy in the state for a month, according to a Reuters analysis of federal USDA data. More people who harvest food, work in food processing, and even own their own farms now need food assistance, according to dozens of food bank workers nationwide. The Trump administration has funneled a record amount of aid to the agricultural sector, the majority going to big farms over food workers or small-scale farmers. Cendejas has already voted for Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. Biden leads Trump by a margin of 53% to 44% in Wisconsin, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed on Monday. Meanwhile, more than 54 million people in the United States could struggle to afford food during the pandemic, with the biggest increases in food insecurity in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, according to Feeding America, a network of 60,000 US food shelters.