Domestic corn production has been boosted by nearly a century of subsidies in the form of direct payments, crop insurance programs, and price supports for American farmers. These totaled reached $3.2 billion in 2024, making corn the most-subsidized crop in the country.

A possible move by Coca-Cola and other beverage and food industries, to use cane sugar instead of corn syrup as a sweetener would be difficult and expensive to implement, while mostly negative for farmers in the United States.

After President Trump announced that Coke will be made with cane sugar in the U.S., as it is in Mexico, foodies of Mexican heritage said in interviews that they weren’t excited.

Agricultural industry leaders fear a push away from corn syrup could disrupt production of the U.S.’s largest crop.