Iowa farmers and tariffs

Sun., Dec. 23, 2018

I spent the last week of October and the first week of November in southwest Iowa. At least fifty percent of the corn and some beans were still not harvested. They have had an excessive amount of rain with little let-up. Some of the corn may never get harvested.

Beans are the primary problem for the Midwest farmers. Due to the tariffs, there are no soy beans going to China. This has left much of last year’s crop in the storage elevators, which means this year’s crop can’t be stored and now lacks its major market. Additionally, with all of the rain, some of the beans have started to sprout, meaning they will never be sold.

If my farming cousins are correct, it will be a bleak year for Iowa farmers. It may even get worse when they apply for the loans necessary to plant their crops in the spring as the loans are made the price of the commodity.

Allen Roberts

St. John, Wash.

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