Amid a war in the Middle East, a primary challenger from Minnesota and slipping poll numbers, President Joe Biden will kick off what aides are calling a “barnstorming” of rural America with a visit to a farm just north of Northfield today.

The trip to Dutch Creek Farms in rural Dakota County is billed by the White House as a chance to spotlight farmers who are leaning on recent federal spending to improve sustainability and offer producers a competitive leg up in new markets.

In a call with reporters Tuesday, Biden’s domestic policy advisor, Neera Tanden, previewed the Minnesota visit, saying the public will “hear more about how these investments are creating real opportunity so the next generation doesn’t have to leave the family farm to have real opportunity.”

The president is also expected to detail $5 billion in new investments, including $1.7 billion in climate-smart agriculture programs, another $1 billion in broadband deployment, and some $2 billion in rural development programs. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the primary goal, however, is highlighting federal farm subsidies.

“I think there are obviously a lot of folks in Minnesota who understand and appreciate climate-smart agriculture and the enormous new income opportunities and environmental benefits that that accrues,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, noted that Minnesota was an early adopter of clean-water initiatives and biofuels.

Biden’s visit to Minnesota comes after Democratic U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips announced a longshot primary challenge against the president last week.

On the first full day of his campaign, Phillips, 54, told reporters that former president Donald Trump is “a disaster for our country,” and pointedly shared his view that “the polling indicates that President Biden will not win the next election.”

Biden, 80, is running for a second White House term, and leading Democrats in Minnesota have continued to support the president in the face of Phillips’ concern about the incumbent. Trump remains the favorite to become the GOP nominee for a third straight cycle.

After his visit to Northfield, Biden is scheduled to be part of a campaign reception Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

Saying they have given up on President Biden due to his handling of the situation unfolding in Gaza, a group of Muslim leaders from the Twin Cities launched an “Abandon Biden” campaign Wednesday with a series of protests timed for the president’s Minnesota visit. The campaign will encourage Muslim Americans to vote for any other candidate for president next year because Biden did not call for a cease-fire by a noon Tuesday deadline set by the group.

“We are not only disappointed, we are outraged that the United States and our president are supporting war crimes in Gaza and genocide right now,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Minnesota anti-Biden campaign has drawn interest from dozens of other Muslim leaders around the country, including from Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia and other states, Hussein claimed.

The group said Muslim-Americans would be encouraged to vote rather than sit out the election. Asked if that meant it was more likely they would vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who this week said the United States should not give shelter to refugees fleeing Gaza, Hussein said four years of Trump could not be worse than one night in Gaza right now.

Also speaking at the protest Wednesday in front of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis, Muslim American Taher Herzallah said he learned that five members of his family died in Israel’s airstrike on the Jabaliya refugee camps Tuesday.

He said the Muslim-American community won’t forget what’s happening in Gaza when it comes time to elect a new president.

“Our message is very clear: no cease fire, no vote in 2024,” he said.

The Democratic president’s visit comes a week after congressional Republicans voted to give the House speaker gavel to Rep. Mike Johnson, a far-right conservative from Louisiana. Congress has less than three weeks to fund the government, and many pieces of legislation have sat idle.

Pertinent to farmers and ranchers, Congress missed a September deadline to reauthorize the highly influential farm bill, a Great Depression-era omnibus, which undergirds everything from crop insurance to food stamps. Observers hope Congress greenlights the massive bill before year’s end.

“I appreciate that he’s recognizing that rural America needs help with funding to either create or maintain revenue streams or livelihood,” said Dan Glessing, a Waverly farmer and president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau. “We need options.”

Glessing called for greater attention by the administration to shoring up trade disputes, particularly over Canada’s quotas on U.S. dairy products and with Mexico over genetically modified corn. He also wants to see the nation’s temporary agricultural visa program improved, noting many farms rely on foreign workers for labor.

“We need to separate the guest-worker program from the border [issue],” Glessing said. “The H2A workers are coming from all over.”

While farmers once formed the backbone of Democratic politics in rural Minnesota, they’ve increasingly voted with the GOP, particularly as party lines have hardened along geographic boundaries between rural and urban communities.

In a fundraising email sent out Tuesday, GOP U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad, a southern Minnesota farmer, lambasted Biden over inflation and environmental programs, saying the Biden administration has pursued a “war on production agriculture.”

Dutch Creek Farms resides in DFL Rep. Angie Craig’s congressional district, but Craig is not expected to to attend Wednesday’s visit, as she’ll be casting votes in Washington.

This will be Biden’s fourth visit to the North Star State since becoming president.

Biden is scheduled to tour the farm and make remarks in the afternoon.

Staff writer Hunter Woodall contributed to this report.