
Farmers, who were the backbone of President Donald Trumps election in 2016 are increasing becoming angry with the ongoing trade war thats killing their industry. The vice president of the farmers union said: We lost pretty much all of our markets since Trump took over.
According to Newsweek, farmers have already been suffering the repercussions of the trade war and tariffs since the beginning of August when China, the fourth largest export market for American farms, suspended all purchases of United States agricultural products in response to the tariffs announcement.
North Dakota wheat farmer Bob Kuylen provided an example of the trade wars effect on American agriculture, citing $400,000 in losses since Trump took office. Speaking to MSNBC, Kuylen said farmers like him have lost almost everything since Trumps election. Older guys like us, we built up equities all our lives. Most farmers are land-rich and cash-poor, so well take out loss loans and stuff against our land and go backwards on the land that we paid for. But theres a lot of young farmers out there who dont have equity and I worry about them because theyre not going to be able to withstand this.
Since 2017, revenue from Chinese agricultural exports dropped by more than half, from $19.5 billion to $9.2 billion in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. The USDA also found that farm income has dropped 45 percent over the same period. According to the American Farm Bureau, farm bankruptcies have increased 13 percent since 2018. Newsweek
Farmers are losing patience with the trade war, as they have become the main casualties.
Farmers Are Becoming Increasingly Angry And Blaming Trump For Recent Struggles
Kuylen, who is also the vice president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, which has more than 50,000 member families, described his own farms dire situation. Formerly, Kuylen could expect up to a dollar bonus on the high protein wheat crops he sold to Asain markets, but the additional margin has shrunk to five cents. Were losing by harvesting a little bit above average crop right now, Kuylen told MSNBC, citing a per acreage cost that now exceeded the depressed prices he would earn in returns. One of my young neighbors told me the other day his banker said if wheat doesnt hit $4.50, theres going to be a bloodbath this fall, Kuylen said. Its not looking good for farmers at all.
The Trump administration has tried to mitigate some of the damage with a $16 billion direct aid package to farmers, complete with $14.5 billion going to cash payments and $1.4 billion in bulk purchases by the government. However, a review by the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization best known for promoting organic foods, found that more than half of payments made to U.S. farmers went disproportionately to the largest farms, with the top one percent receiving an average of more than $180,000, while 80 percent of subsidized farms were given less than $5,000.-Newsweek
#1: Hank Rearden To: Deckard (#0)
The rest of us will keep competing in our own markets to cover them.
Hank Rearden posted on 2019-09-05 10:52:27 Reply Private Reply
#2: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
So what? It increased from other countries.
misterwhite posted on 2019-09-05 13:18:33 Reply Private Reply
#3: Tooconservative To: Deckard (#0)
In 2016, this guy donated only to the National Farmers Union.
SOUTH HEART, ND 58655
SOUTH HEART, ND 58655
So who does the National Farmers Union actually favor in electoral politics?
Wiki:
Yeah, real credible source there.
And, surprised-but-no-surprise, that same humble unknown farmer (who likes to fly to D.C. on farmer-union begging junkets) just happened to be standing near a CNN camera for an interview. All very accidental like.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-09-05 16:29:00 Reply Private Reply
#4: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#3)
But you already knew that of course.
Thanks ...
Gatlin posted on 2019-09-05 16:58:59 Reply Private Reply
#5: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#4)
That's the motto southwest North Dakota farmers Jim Kerzman and Bob Kuylen have, and it's the sentiment they're taking with them to Washington, D.C., this week as part of the National Farmers Union's annual fly-in event to lobby members of Congress to support the farm bill.
Sixty-seven North Dakota Farmers Union members are flying into the nation's capital and Kuylan, who farms wheat and sunflowers near South Heart, said he hopes the delegation can put some faces to the farm bill.
"They like to talk to actual farmers instead of lobbyists," Kuylen said. "We'll tell them what's going on out in the country, instead of someone being paid and curving it their way."
The nine-month farm bill extension passed Jan. 1 expires at the end of September and has been bouncing from the House of Representatives to the Senate with major and minor changes seemingly ever since with little agreement. If the farm bill isn't passed, there is a possibility of another extension before the bill expires Sept. 30.
Kuylen and Kerzman, a Mott area farmer who served seven sessions in the North Dakota Legislature as a Democrat, said the members are pushing to keep crop insurance subsidies and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the food stamp assistance program commonly referred to as SNAP, in the bill.
...
You can imagine the rest just from that excerpt.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-09-05 17:24:37 Reply Private Reply
#6: Gatlin To: Tooconservative (#5)
Thank for this.I like to dig into these stories or read when someone else does.
Salute,
Gatlin
Gatlin posted on 2019-09-05 18:18:24 Reply Private Reply
#7: Tooconservative To: Gatlin (#6)
Tooconservative posted on 2019-09-05 18:57:38 Reply Private Reply
#8: WWG1WWA To: Deckard, Tooconservative (#0)
Latest poll from donaldjtrumppolls.com
OFFICIAL ONLINE NATIONAL DONALD TRUMP POPULARITY POLLS UPDATED IN REAL-TIME Live, up-to-the-minute Donald Trump Popularity Polls From 50 States
He's Doing a Great Job 128,509 Votes (81.61%)
He's Doing 'OK' 17,262 Votes (10.96%)
He's Doing Pretty Bad 11,694 Votes (7.43%)
WWG1WWA posted on 2019-09-06 00:00:24 Reply Private Reply
#9: Tooconservative To: WWG1WWA (#8)
OTOH, he still has fairly high support with farmers (unless they're losing money badly) because Trump is trying to knock down trade barriers with persistence. I think they're willing to take the hit for a few years if it will mean that ag exports finally stop being the first thing other countries restrict or impose tariffs on.
At a certain point though, some farmers will feel that voting for Trump is voting themselves out of business. But they also know that Trump is right on ag exports and how other countries have discrimated against American ag products.
If things turn downward hard enough in the farm sector, Trump could be defeated by small numbers of votes switching to Dem or just staying home in ag states like Iowa. Or ND or others.
Trump is feeling the heat on ag more than on anything else. It is among the greatest threats to his re-election.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-09-06 07:53:33 Reply Private Reply
#10: WWG1WWA To: Tooconservative (#9)
Then there is this article:
Farmers prosper in spite of Trump's trade battle with China
Anti-Trumpers agree: The presidents trade battle with China is hurting our economy and, in particular, Americas farmers. We are told that the tariff tiffs have caused a collapse in U.S. agricultural exports to China, and consequent heartbreak in our heartland.
It isnt true.
As with most criticisms lodged against the Trump White House, this oft- repeated narrative is way overblown. Turns out, far from suffering what CNBC recently described as a devastating year for farmers the farmers of America overall are doing quite well.
The Department of Agriculture recently forecast that net farm income will rise nearly 5 percent this year, to $88 billion. That growth comes on top of increases in both 2017 and 2018 and is, just for the record, faster than the overall growth of the economy.
For sure, times could be better. The forecast for this year means that real net farm income would come in 36 percent below its peak of $136.5 billion in 2013 and slightly below its 2000-18 average ($90.1 billion). Farmers suffered a severe drop in total revenues during the Obama years, collapsing from $484 billion in 2013 to $412 billion in 2016. Weirdly, I dont remember the media paying much attention.
SNIP
thehill.com/opinion/finan...osper-in-spite-of-trumps- trade- battle-with-china
WWG1WWA posted on 2019-09-06 10:12:26 Reply Private Reply
#11: misterwhite To: WWG1WWA (#10)
misterwhite posted on 2019-09-06 10:39:29 Reply Private Reply
#12: Tooconservative To: WWG1WWA (#10)
As always, it's the smaller farmers in real trouble but that is where the most votes are, tens of thousands of those votes in Iowa and other ag states. The big farmers suck up the lion's share of subsidies, waiting to buy out the small farmers when hard times come. You probably know how this works.
You're right that it is overblown in reporting. But guys who expanded to make their operations large enough to be viable, afford irrigated land, modern farm machinery, etc. are very hard-pressed on their cash-flow. The big established farmers are the ones with the most acres and the ones feeling the least pain.
Given the outrageous prices we saw for farmland and commodity crops in 2012-2013, I don't think that is a realistic baseline for American ag at all. Even with some rather rampant inflation, those were bellwether years, something seen by a farmer once in a lifetime, if even that.
But farmers who expanded based on those years, buying tractors and pickups and farm machinery of all kinds, are among those who are most squeezed now. Farmers have a way of spending freely when they've got the money, especially unexpectedly high prices for livestock or primary crops. Then they have a hangover for a decade or more. At least, that was how the farmers I knew were.
American ag teeters between famine or flood with little in between. The federal ag programs have done as much to exacerbate this as to stabilize it.
Tooconservative posted on 2019-09-06 10:44:51 Reply Private Reply
#13: WWG1WWA To: misterwhite (#11)
WWG1WWA posted on 2019-09-07 00:20:49 Reply Private Reply