When it comes to ag money, Clinton’s far up the food chain from Trump

By a nearly 2-to-1 margin, employees of agribusiness companies have favored Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in their campaign contributions, according to federal data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Clinton’s campaign has collected almost $1.2 million from the agribusiness sector, compared with $600,000 for Trump.

Ag interests even gave Clinton rival Bernie Sanders $200,000 more than they did to Trump, according to Federal Election Commission Filings, meaning they gave almost $2 million in total to the Democrats.

Trump equals, or trails, some of his former Republican rivals in ag sector contributions.

They contributed an almost identical amount, $600,000, to Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. They gave twice as much, $1.2 million, to Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

The only ag subcategory that didn’t put more of its money in Clinton’s basket? Eggs and poultry.

Clinton tops the food chain in dairy, livestock, sugar cane, tobacco, forest products and fruit, vegetable and nut producers. She’s also reaped more than Trump in crop production and basic processing, food products, food processing, meat processing and food stores.

To be sure, though, agribusiness is even hungrier to support the Republican majorities in Congress. The sector’s employees have given Republican House and Senate candidates more than $31 million, versus $11.5 million to Democrats.

Top Hill recipients include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose district anchors the farm rich Central Valley of California, and Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Both received more than $600,000.

It’s also clear they have little appetite for independent candidates: Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has received only $20,000. Green Party candidate Jill Stein has received less than $2,000.

The Center for Responsive Politics is a Washington watchdog group that tracks campaign fundraising and spending, and lobbying activity.

This story was originally published September 21, 2016 at 4:23 PM with the headline "When it comes to ag money, Clinton’s far up the food chain from Trump."