I am an American farmer and I can tell you that yes the trade war has hurt our markets tremendously. The Market Facilitation payments have helped. But we would rather have fair trade and a free market. That being said we have not had fair trade with the Chinese in over 30 years. They constantly cheat and manipulate the markets to their favor while dumping tons of cheap crap on the US built with their near slave labor. Trump is the first president that has actually had the b@ll$ to stand up the the Chinese. He will still get about 80% of the farmers vote and I think he should really double down on the Chinese and bring back some USA manufacturing.
Please define "tremendously". I'm not trying to be argumentive, I'm just trying to reconcile that word with:
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/international-markets-us-trade/us-agricultural-trade/outlook-for-us-agricultural-trade/
As a one year % decrease, for my business, I might take that as a yellow flag and maybe a need to work a bit harder or more effectively, etc., but I'd certainly not lose sleep over it. Over a several year trend, well, that'd be a different matter.
Also, how much of the decrease is due to the Swine Fever? How much is due to a weak global economy aside from trade disputes?
It would seem many Ag imports are up. Is there opportunity there? (Almost every problem is also an opportunity.)
I'll be interested in your reply. No rush, if your are busy. Thanks!