Aaron Lehman
Appearances
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
Yeah, for me, it was hearing it on the farm news.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
To be honest, I think like a lot of farmers, we were thinking, okay, this might be posturing. This might be some saber rattling.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
Well, I think it escalated and escalated and escalated.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
So farmers at that point are scrambling to try to find ways to tighten their belts.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
For farmers like me, you know, I'm the fifth generation on our farm, and the age of the average farmer in Iowa is 57 years old, and it's only getting older. So the need to bring the next generation of farmers back to the land is extremely important. Well, you're not going to do that in a time of crisis.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
So it's no fault of their own when they have built up these trade relationships for years and years and years and then a flip is switched and all of a sudden all that work gets yanked.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
So there was talk about, OK, is there a way to help farmers who are impacted? So that's when we started hearing about possible trade payments.
Planet Money
What happened to U.S. farmers during the last trade war
It came from the administration, from the USDA, and the plan was to use the Commodity Credit Corporation.