Posted on 08/08/2018 8:58:59 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Donald Trump is clearly concerned about the plight of American farmers. He pushed the Department of Agriculture to make available up to $12 billion of temporary relief to those farms caught in the middle of his tariff war – starting this Labor Day.
It’s laudable that he wants to address this problem, but let’s remember that it was a problem of his own creation.
America is a breadbasket to much of the world because of our exceptional farmland. We have about two-and-a-half times as much arable land as does China, for instance, with about the same landmass.
That means exports are going to be a big part of what American farmers produce. And lo, fully 20 percent of farm revenues are from produce sales in foreign markets.
So when President Trump started imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on other countries, what was the literal low-lying fruit that those governments targeted for retaliatory tariffs? That’s right, American produce.
Farmers have contracts in foreign markets that were disrupted by this back-and-forth trade-warring. Many can't afford to fully harvest their produce this year and are having a hard time selling what crops they do have. In some sad cases, crops simply rot in the fields.
It makes sense that our government would compensate them for this loss, but the thing that farmers want long-term is not compensation but contracts via open, stable markets – the kind that the president is doing so much to disrupt
President Donald Trump is clearly concerned about the plight of American farmers. He pushed the Department of Agriculture to make available up to $12 billion of temporary relief to those farms caught in the middle of his tariff war – starting this Labor Day.
It’s laudable that he wants to address this problem, but let’s remember that it was a problem of his own creation.
America is a breadbasket to much of the world because of our exceptional farmland. We have about two-and-a-half times as much arable land as does China, for instance, with about the same landmass.
That means exports are going to be a big part of what American farmers produce. And lo, fully 20 percent of farm revenues are from produce sales in foreign markets.
So when President Trump started imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on other countries, what was the literal low-lying fruit that those governments targeted for retaliatory tariffs? That’s right, American produce.
Farmers have contracts in foreign markets that were disrupted by this back-and-forth trade-warring. Many can't afford to fully harvest their produce this year and are having a hard time selling what crops they do have. In some sad cases, crops simply rot in the fields.
It makes sense that our government would compensate them for this loss, but the thing that farmers want long-term is not compensation but contracts via open, stable markets – the kind that the president is doing so much to disrupt
Trade-warring and the retaliatory tariffs that those conflicts produce do not have a good effect on American produce and related industries. Just in recent days, we’ve seen reports that wheat farmers, hog farmers, soybean farmers, almond farmers, beer brewers, lobstermen, dock workers, and so many others are being affected.
The good news is that most of the damage isn’t permanent. The broader economy is booming. If President Trump reverses course and markets open up again, many of the job losses that have already occurred or are imminent can be reversed. The damage can be undone or mitigated.
But if we have to go through another year of this, temporary farm aid simply will not cut it. Much farmland will be turned over to development or be reclaimed by nature. What crops are left will rot in even greater numbers and the rest of the world will find a way to replace American produce in their markets.
Horsehockey! The DonaldTM is responding to decades of tariffs imposed upon the United States after WWII.
We’ve been refugees in an ongoing trade war since 1948. All Trump has done is to start to prosecute it.
All these articles are from WSJ and National Review types. I haven’t heard from any real farmers.
Ping, us when you finally post some real news instead of this bs!
I agree with the financial relief for farmers that Trump pursued.
Meghan McCain opposes it.
This is just NeverTrump nonsense.
For example, take his statement, “Farmers have contracts in foreign markets that were disrupted by this back-and-forth trade-warring.” “Farmers” don’t have such contracts, giant broker firms do.
But saying ‘bailouts for large corporations’ doesn’t adequately arose Trump-hate in the RINO world.
Trade War is better than Trade Surrender.
poor farmers can’t get by on an extra 12 Billion in subs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3673417/posts
Should we continue to grab our ankles for the world to have their way with us? I don’t think so! The farmers will tough it out till it gets better . This always happens to them. Sometimes worse than others.
Short term pain.
Long term gain.
I noticed that too. Also a bunch of articles from big city, coastal liberals; not a single farmer writing articles claiming this.
Another a$$wipe from Townhall! “It’s the old “everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die” approach. “Let’s just put everything back where it was and muddle along as a country being screwed by the rest of the world. Already China is hard up against the fact that they will have to buy soybeans from America with the tariffs, because without our production, there isn’t enough in the rest of the world to give them what they need to stay alive. Trump is doing the right thing.
Can’t they make up their mind? I thought the media said the only reason we had a 4.1 % growth of GDP was soy bean sales overseas.
Has the Democrat media ever cared about farmers before? The answer is “No.” They are only using this as another attempt to separate President Trump from a segment of his base. Farmers are suffering much worse from the bad weather this year.
RISING SEA LEVELS MAY PRESENT RISK TO OUR COASTS, INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECONOMY
I have grown to shape my impressions of people based on their views on climate change. I find it to be most revealing. This is a Rubio guy, and a believer in Man-Caused Global Warming.
Yes. See my post above at #16.
For me, belief in man-caused global warming is a political non-starter.
If someone is stupid enough to jump on that wagon, and also morally suspect enough to support Rubio, I am not interested in their views.
In the last week we have information that the EU is going to up its purchase of US soybeans. We also find that China is going to have to buy more soybeans than usual and will return to US soybeans in September-October. We are informed that soybean production in the important South America’s Southern Cone (So. Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina) is way off this year. Finally, Archer Daniels controls the world market for soybeans. The farmers know all this and they have a tendency, unlike journalists, to not cry until they are hurt.
That calculus works for me.
Already been mentioned that the Chinese are running out of soybeans, which is a major food source for them
The ivory tower idiots do not understand that most big time farmers store beans in silos and trade in futures.
A short tern price decline is worth it to get trade back in balance.
And that is just one income source.
You don’t think the Chinese are going to stop smoking to spite us, do you?
And if they don’t sell us cars and electronics, top Chinese government officials will lose their heads...literally.
The article is one world propaganda.
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