Soybeans, shown here ready for harvest. The source of much hope and much anger. They have fallen in price around 20% since last spring, before the tariffs. Last spring the 2018 U.S. farm income was estimated to drop to $60 Billion which was half the $120 Billion of 5 years ago. Farmers in 2018 are set to lose money on corn, soybeans and hogs.
Because so many farmers voted for Trump and the mid-term elections are coming soon, the bail-out is to keep his base. It should alienate those not getting a bail out. It will alienate farmers who see after this election is over that the bail out is over too. Once you lose your export markets, good luck with that. Countries want a reliable source for food security.
Trump’s plan uses a 1930’s farm program designed to “stabilize, support, and protect farm income and prices.” The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) allows the Ag Dept to borrow from the Treasury Department. It’s not rocket science to know we have enough national debt already. But Trump says he will borrow to (1) give direct payments to some farmers, (2) buy surplus crops from other farmers and give to food banks, and (3) develop new markets for export.
I know, I know, farmers are in trouble. We farm. Land prices and rent are high. Inputs (expenses to put out crops) are high and prices are low. Farmers are borrowing against their land for annual operating expenses and going backwards.
But the concentration of U.S. wealth in so few hands, the high stock market, and now the tariffs all mirror 1929. Fiscal responsibility is especially crucial. We don’t need band-aids to patch a problem. We need the trade war to end and tariffs to be removed.
People will rightfully ask why their state or their economic interest is overlooked. Our need for food security is real and is why there never really is a free market of supply and demand for food. Our government wants surpluses to fall back upon for security. It wants cheap food to allow people disposable income for consumerism. Even so, throughout our country too many people are food insecure.
Food security is a global need. Europe has long subsidized its farmers to keep urban sprawl at bay and farmers producing food. If farmers make a living they will not sell off pieces of land to get by. Just this week farmers in France stopped the Tour de France to protest subsidies they deemed too small. Farming and prices are complicated.
Meanwhile as farmers are financially squeezed, large farms overtake smaller ones. Will this bail out stop that trend? That would take a change in policy that favors family farms and caps payments to ensure the big don’t overtake all. That kind of change would take a will not seen in the agricultural industry.
