Trump told the gathered crowd Friday that farmers’ costs will fall after the end of the Iran war.

“We’re going to come out and your fertilizer prices are going to go way down, just like they were four months ago,” Trump said. “Your fertilizer’s down, your energy’s down, your oil, your gas is all coming way down.”

However, the president did not specifically lay out a plan to lower costs and concerns about farm fuel, markets, impacts from tariffs and other challenges farmers are facing.

Amid a flurry of MAGA hats, flag shirts, multiple prayers and chants of “U-S-A” the event included hundreds, with other supporters standing outside in the rain.

Attendees take photos and videos as President Donald Trump arrives Friday in Chippewa Falls, Wis.

Trump spoke for about an hour at the event, billed as a roundtable discussion, covering topics ranging from border security to manufacturing and his project to repaint the bottom of Washington D.C.’s Reflecting Pool.

Only a small portion of the talk dealt directly with farmers, and their economic concerns and plans for the future.

The visit to Custer Farms comes as national polling numbers show Trump’s job approval is near his all-time lows. A national poll by the Marquette University Law School released this week found 38 percent approve of his job performance. Only 30 percent approve of his handling of the economy, and 22 percent approve of how he’s handled inflation and the cost of living.

And the event’s location in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District highlights the national importance of that seat, which both parties believe is crucial to determining who holds power in the U.S. House of Representatives. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien, is a staunch Trump ally.

Vice President JD Vance, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and now Trump himself have all visited the 3rd Congressional District within the past 12 months.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for Wisconsin governor, speaks before President Donald Trump arrives at a roundtable event Friday in Chippewa Falls, Wis.

Brief comments at the event also came from Van Orden, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and others. Trump loudly pronounced his support for Van Orden and Tiffany.

Wisconsin Olympian Jordan Stolz put one of his speedskating gold medals around Trump’s neck. Others praised the president’s policies.

Van Orden and Tiffany both expressed support for Trump and the Trump Administration’s health plans — specifically their support for whole milk being added to school lunch programs. Several other speakers echoed the support.

In remarks to the crowd before the roundtable, Van Orden promised costs would decline as a result of Trump’s policies.

“We’re going to bring everything down, these costs down, and make sure that America’s going to be great again and we’re going to be financially prosperous,” Van Orden said.

Rep. Derrick Van Orden points at the crowd as he greets attendees Friday in Chippewa Falls, Wis.

The speakers before and during the roundtable consistently pointed to the 250th Anniversary of America and its importance to rural Americans in their speeches.

The panel also included Wisconsin business owners and farmers Jake Leinenkugel of Leinenkugel Brewery, Sydney Flick of Jazzy Jersey Dairy and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Thomas.

Trump has dominated in rural Wisconsin every time he’s been on the ballot. In his Wisconsin victories in 2016 and 2024 as well as in his 2020 loss, rural parts of the state gave him his highest vote shares.

In 2022, Van Orden won the mostly rural 3rd District by about 3 points after national Democrats pulled ad spending late in the race. In 2024, Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke improved slightly on that margin. Cooke is the frontrunner in a Democratic primary this year that also includes former Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge.

The agriculture world has been hit hard by tariffs and inflation over the past couple of years.

Trump’s tariff policies have sharply limited export markets for Wisconsin farmers, and more recently the war in Iran has caused fuel and fertilizer costs to skyrocket. Many farmers are worried about their bottom line, according to Farm Bureau surveys. The price of urea, a nitrogen-based fertilizer that typically ships through the Strait of Hormuz, has fallen since hitting record highs early in the war, but remains about 24% higher than a year ago.

Seventy percent of respondents to the April Farm Bureau survey said they couldn’t afford all the fertilizer they need, and the survey noted an increase in farm diesel prices since February. It has had ripple effects across planting and growing seasons.

In a statement to media, a White House spokesperson highlighted Trump’s “strong support for Wisconsin’s farmers — delivering lower input costs, new trade markets, less red tape, a stronger farm safety net, a doubled death tax exemption, no taxes on rural property loan interest, and new Rural Opportunity Zones.”

In a call with reporters Friday morning, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said the reality is different.

“The truth is that Wisconsin farmers have been hit really hard by Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda, by the tariffs, the trade wars, and his totally unnecessary and illegal war in Iran,” Baldwin said.