Produce imports from Central and South America have no small part to play. They’d never be allowed to operate here the way they do there, due to our labor and farming regulations.
That’s the next thing that should be on President Trump’s MAGA list—restore the farm grants/subsidies, run the EPA out of the farmers’ hair and once the crops start rolling in (which with proper irrigation will be quick), cut the food imports by 1/2 from Mexico, Central and South America and especially China.
Left-wing judges awarding illegals private property in lawsuits against American property owners. Plus not being able to do a damned thing legally about poachers and trespassers once they've arrived on your land especially if you're in a sanctuary state. If a farm is anything, it's open land vulnerable to poaching by the invading hordes from Central and South America. This has been going on for dozens of years. And you can bet the LSM are blacking out these stories.
Farmers here. Imports may play a role but the expenses continue to escalate and farm prices are not keeping pace. New varieties produce more than ever but you have to have rain or irrigation. Seed costs (cotton) up and up, chemicals up and up, equipment almost untouchable, land doubled since we began farming, and fuel costs up. For huge operations I cannot imagine what they have to borrow and pay in interest every year just to operate. We are a dying breed. It is just my husband farming less acres than most, no hired help and I am the helper. He is very conservative and we have been blessed in many ways. Some years we do really well and some it is lean. We can survive and have a life outside of farming with church, friends, family and each other. Still there is stress and we THINK we see more and more crop insurance fraud from people who are so huge you would think they didn’t need to cheat. Are they greedy or are they so highly leveraged they can’t risk a mediocre return?