The Documentation Project presented an informational meeting on the effects of Trump administration funding cuts Tuesday at Heartland Community College.
The event was sponsored by the McLean County League of Women Voters, a non-partisan political group. Michael Doherty, an independent consultant with the project, spoke about the impacts that Trump’s tariff policies are having on Central Illinois farmers, who he said have seen three consecutive years of negative returns on cash-rented acreage.
Doherty said it shows the return from harvesting farmland is not keeping up with the cost to rent land and purchase equipment.
The Documentation Project is a new citizens group working to document the totality of cuts to various funding sources for McLean County programs — and the impact on people served by those programs — during President Trump's second term.
In his presentation on Tuesday, Doherty also noted Trump’s policies are straining relations with China, the nation’s biggest market for soybeans, which also is hurting farmers. He said China has begun looking to Brazil and Argentina for soybeans in the aftermath of the 2018 trade war during Trump's first term.
“Even though those sales came back [when the trade war ended], what happened was there was a lot of growth in that market, and we did not get that growth,” said Doherty, who previously was senior economist at the Illinois Farm Bureau. “Instead, that growth went to Brazil.”
For six months in 2025, as a result of retaliatory trade measures, U.S. soybean exports to China were nearly zero. A November deal between the two countries allowed trade to resume.
“The question is, will China continue to buy soybeans for the remainder of this crop here? I would say most market analysts are doubtful about that, partly because our competitors Brazil are already harvesting soybeans,” said Doherty.
Because Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, that nation is currently experiencing summer.
Also discussed during the meeting was the loss of grant funding for the Community Schools program at Cedar Ridge and Fairview elementary schools.
Gabe Spaulding, a physics professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, presented on the termination of various science grants and the impact the moves have on educational institutions.
The event was the second in a series of informational sessions planned by The Documentation Project.
