At the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City, trade is a hot topic. A panel discussion on trade in the Trump 2.0 era was held Wednesday morning. The question posed was can farmers withstand the storm while trade is sorted out by the administration?
“How long do we have to wait?” asked Michigan farmer Janna Fritz, member of the American Soybean Association and chair of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. “How long until we relieve some of this uncertainty?
“Farmers want trade. There has been the mantra out in the industry of ‘trade, not aid’. But undoubtedly we’re at a point today, and our economic research from ASA and USSEC would show, that farmers are struggling. And we’re at a point where some of these things need to be finalized. We need to see impacts to the market, or we will require some sort of aid to the farmer to stay in business.”
Corn farmer and director of trade policy for the U.S. Grains & Bioproducts Council Andrew Brandt says a larger concern is the growing competition for the marketplace. Brandt says Brazil has somewhere around 100 million acres they could put into grain production in the coming years.
“When you run the numbers, and it won’t go all to corn, but if a third of it went to corn, it would be equivalent to roughly bringing another Iowa of corn into the global market,” Brandt explains. “So, as I look at this, I see the rise of Brazil, the rise of other countries, other countries adopting biotech like China where they’re going to just grow more of their own corn, I see that as a far bigger impact on the price I will receive to help me make my payments on my farm versus this trade ruckus.”
We’ll have more in the coming days from the NAFB Convention in Kansas City.
