US trade, immigration and biofuel policies hit farmers hard

DES MOINES, Iowa – Farmers and agricultural economists are worried that president Donald Trump’s trade, immigration and biofuels policies will cost farms billions of dollars in lost income and force some out of business.

Even before Trump began talking tariffs earlier this year farm income was expected to drop 7 per cent from last year to just under $60 billion. That’s half of farm income reported just five years ago.

In addition to falling corn, soybean and pork prices caused by the tariff dispute, the administration’s ethanol policy has reduced the use of corn by hundreds of millions of bushels, helping to push prices below profitability and immigration actions risk hampering expansion plans in pork industry.

Some are saying the resulting blow to agriculture could create the worst farm financial crisis since the 1980s.