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President Trump’s trade war with China has hurt farmers more than it helped.
Farm bankruptcies were up 13% from last June to this year, according to the American Farm Bureau. Delinquent agricultural loans are also up, reaching a six-year peak earlier this year.
Revenue from Chinese agricultural exports has dropped by more than half since 2017, from $19.5 billion to $9.2 billion in 2018, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture figures.
Bob Kuylen, vice president of the North Dakota Farmer’s Union, told MSNBC he lost $400,000 because of Pres. Trump’s trade war with China.
In California, where 80% of the world’s almonds are grown, harvest season has arrived. CBS news reported China was the third-biggest market for the state’s more than $20 billion in agricultural exports in 2017. CBS spoke to Dave Phippen, whose third-generation family farm grows and processes 42 million pounds of almonds a year:
“As a farmer and a grower you feel rather powerless … So you are hoping that the handler you have chosen to market your almonds with has some kind of a pathway that opens up markets.”
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