Right-wing war on farmers elevates

Some views from the ground on Trump’s trade war. Most farmers' options are of course limited.

The soybean markets have been the source of much heartburn this spring, particularly in (mid-May), when prices rode a rollercoaster of Twitter announcements of additional tariffs and another round of trade mitigation payments to farmers.

Farmer reactions varied widely, from anger and disgust to stoic support and even Zen-like detachment.

"The markets just feel like a punch in the gut right now," said Honebrink. "Every time I get my new budget and plan figured out, markets drop and I have to go back to the drawing board."

Rendel added: "I can't tell you how worried and on edge I am every day watching the markets, wondering what is the next thing I'm going to see on Twitter. I'm walking on pins and needles every day."

In central Ohio, Keith Peters believes not all our trade partners will return when the dust settles. "We have to go forward with the realization that we have lost market share for the foreseeable future," he said. - Progressive Farmer

While it looks unlikely that the “new NAFTA” is going to get through Congress, this has useful facts to bear in mind in any case.

"The ITC computer model forecasting does not include the likely impacts of non-tariff measures in New NAFTA," said Dr. Steve Suppan, IATP senior policy analyst. "New provisions streamline approval of foreign food safety, plant and animal health and animal welfare measures as 'equivalent' despite well-documented evidence they are not. New rules in New NAFTA will lock in a process to further lower U.S. food and agricultural chemical safety standards for decades. Based on the historical record, there is real reason for concern over foodborne illness from imported food and New NAFTA's provisions to enable trade of legally unauthorized products of agricultural biotechnology."

The original NAFTA hurt farmers and hollowed out rural communities in the United States, Mexico and Canada, and despite claims from President Trump and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue that New NAFTA is needed to fix the farm economy, the ITC report shows this rhetoric does not match reality. In fact, the New NAFTA will entrench underlying structural issues, exacerbating our ongoing farm crisis, plagued by low prices, rising debt and increased bankruptcies. It locks in a system where global agribusiness firms exploit farmers and extract from rural communities in all three nations. - IATP

An addendum:

The second issue is that this year’s plan is expected to mirror that of last year, when Trump handed out $12 billion to address the problem he created. And under last year’s plan, most of that money went to huge corporate farms, including corporate farms owned by foreign companies, and not to small farmers. In fact, as The Des Moines Register reported, hundreds of Iowa farmers ended up with a payment of less than $25. Not $25 million. Or $25,000. $25. Some payments were less than $5. The average payment was $7,236, which is a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost of operating the most modest farm. And even that number was inflated by the large checks written out for the largest corporate farms. 

Trump is handing out $16 billion. It’s a genuinely large amount of money. But it’s too late, it’s going to the wrong people, and it’s still just a tiny fraction of what’s needed to repair the damage that Trump has caused. - Daily Kos