Monday, July 30, 2018

Congress, Not Trump's Trade War, is the Root of Farmers' Woes

In response to past and prospective losses, Trump and the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week proposed a $12 billion aid package to help farmers hurt by the tariffs.

Brian Kuehl, executive director of Farmers for Free Trade, told The Hill that "a one-time check won't replace the deterioration of long-term contracts and relationships."

Farmers are more likely to get a good rate of return amid risky years if they bank on these government-supported crops.

Because of Trump's new trade policy, these farmers risk losing everything.

It also demonstrates that-beyond stopping the trade war, as many conservatives are demanding-real change for farmers requires reform to the farm bill, which has largely fostered this dire situation.

Even as trade war outrage is engulfing congressional debate, House and Senate versions of the farm bill are going to committee-and unfortunately both versions contain more of the same when it comes to conventional subsidies and crop insurance.

Rather than encouraging farmers to eliminate risk by diversifying their crops, pursuing sustainability, and embracing a proper scale, the federal government keeps telling them to follow the same formula-and continues to compensate them for their losses via taxpayer dollars when things don't work.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/congress-not-trumps-trade-war-is-the-root-of-farmers-woes/ 

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