Farming is uncertain — a trade war makes it more so
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Why is uncertainty a challenge for farmers today?
Farmers do not like uncertainty. They want to know the prices their crops would fetch before they plant them. And they want to know how much it'll cost to buy seeds and fertilizer and farm equipment. And they want to know they won't be hit by drought or bird flu. But right now, things are not certain in farm country.
Things are changing hour by hour. How do you operate a business that way?
Justin Sherlock is a farmer, also president of the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association. As our colleague Kirk Sigler reported from North Dakota, his uncertainty is compounded by tariffs and when or if they take hold. President Trump's tariffs and tariff threats on foreign imports... have led to other countries retaliating with tariffs on American agricultural exports. For a soybean farmer, that would make Canadian fertilizer more expensive to import and would result in millions of tons of soybeans not being sold and exported to China.
The tariffs will go on agricultural product coming into America and our farmers starting on April 2nd. It may be a little bit of an adjustment period.
In his speech to Congress, President Trump asked farmers to bear with him. His hope is that the American economy eventually adapts to unlock a bigger domestic market for farmers.
So to our farmers, have a lot of fun. I love you too. I love you too. It's all going to happen.
Under the first Trump administration's trade war, the federal government paid out billions to keep farmers afloat, but their businesses are still recovering. And Justin Sherlock has crops to plant this spring.
You can't take that to the banker and say, well, our political leadership must have a plan, so give me a loan.
In North Dakota, where one in five jobs are tied to agriculture, more than 67 percent of the electorate voted for Trump. But consider this. So far, the Trump administration's agriculture policy and its signature economic policy have resulted in a condition that farmers try to avoid. Uncertainty. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers.
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It's Consider This from NPR. Farmers already worry about crop prices, the cost of farm supplies and extreme weather. Now the federal government is another big question mark. President Trump's trade war will shape where farmers can sell their crops. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has paused reimbursements, cut programs and attempted to lay off staff. We wanted to know more about the relationship between farmers and the federal government. So this week we called on Ann Veneman. She was President George W. Bush's Secretary of Agriculture. My co-host Ari Shapiro takes it from here.
How are Trump's tariffs likely to affect farmers?
Well, as you say, agriculture is an uncertain business, and I think uncertainty is what farmers face every day. But when you add on the disruption markets due to trade, these tariffs would fall most heavily on the U.S. agriculture industry. So, for example, China has been a major export market for U.S. agricultural products. One quarter of the U.S. crop of soybeans has been exported to China.
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