the fact that both India and America have vast farmlands does not make them similar. No such long march occurred in the United States of America during the pandemic. Nor do Indian farmers compete with American farmers. They merely coexist with them – as they do with nature and as they must do with policy – often an uneasy coexistence. Perils of Opening India's Agricultural Market to United States Business - The Wire
Opening India’s market to farm produce from the United States, without robust safeguards for domestic farmers, is not ‘competition’. It is an uneven contest between an industrial system and a survival economy. And it could well signal the beginning of the end of India’s cultural and civilisational threads, woven around agriculture.
Seen purely through an Indian agriculturist’s lens, powerful corporations and business houses appear to have inspired US President Donald Trump’s decision to push for an agricultural trade deal with an India still mired in rural poverty, inequality and stark disparities.
When subsidised American produce enters Indian markets, price signals are bound to collapse. For a small farmer, even a modest price dip can determine whether a daughter or son goes to school, or whether a loan is rolled over once again. Such realities rarely find space in trade negotiations.
The US-India trade deal could wreak havoc on the country’s dairy sector too. India’s dairy economy is decentralised, household-based and a part of everyday rural life. One or two heads of cattle often provide a steady income and source of milk protein, especially when rainfall fails. In village homes, money earned from milk and curd pays for medicines, school fees and groceries.
by Nalin Verma
04/02/2026