cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/51826015
Across the US this year, farmers have seen costs soar and the price of their produce tumble as Donald Trump’s flagship tariffs sparked a trade war with China.
American farmers, who voted en masse for Trump last year, are now warning of the worst economic crisis since the 1980s, when soaring interest rates and a slump in exports saw the price of crops and the value of farmland collapse. About 300,000 farmers defaulted on their loans and thousands were driven into bankruptcy.
“We spent a hell lot of time in China building relationships, building those markets,” he said. “And then you basically piss it all away, to be blunt.”
Guess they should have managed their farms better.
They need to cut back on all that avocado toast.
This is about bootstraps, isn’t it?
as ferengei said in enterprise.
Step 3 find out
Step 4, claim you’d vote for Trump again.
Yep. Trump is not the problem. His voters and enablers are.
fool them once(1st term) shame on them, fool them twice and 3 times, farmers derserve it.
…and I don’t want to see a single red penny in welfare sent to these people. Welfare queens the lot of them. Should have planted a crop that sells, like hemp or sweet corn.
I pretty much agree with you, but keep a couple things in mind.
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Soybeans are also a nitrogen fixer, and thus often planted in rotation with corn anyway. Their replacement would have to be also.
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Even relatively small farmers can have a million dollars invested in the equipment for planting and harvesting soybeans specifically—equipment which I’m sure is now taking a good hit in resale value. Mainly I’m talking headers, though there are so many little attachments on combines for different crops it makes your head spin. Seriously, I was just on John Deere’s configurator for one of their lower-tier models, and wowsers.) ^(…obligatory don’t buy a Deere!)
TL;DR: While it’s true that the majority of them should have seen this coming a long time ago but didn’t, but short term it’s not as simple as just “planting a different crop.” It’d have to be a crop that they already have the equipment for, which is also a nitrogen fixer, and has comparable market demand. And, if such a crop existed, they would have planted that in the first place.
TL;DR the TL;DR: geez your attention span isn’t that short, educate yo’self. 😅
So we give farmers money to encourage soybean planting that we don’t need so they can continue to plant corn.
Then we force everyone to buy ethanol gas that’s bad for the environment, bad for cars, and more expensive than regular gas so we can subsidize corn planting. Or… Used as an artificial sweetener for food that caused health issues. Or… Used as inappropriate feed for cattle.
Maybe we just need to encourage farmers to plant crops people actually want and need.
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and that import/export for soybeans is unlikely to come back as china shifts to other countries.
Farm Bankruptcy is not the same as a traditional bankruptcy. The farmers don’t lose their property.
