Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2018

POLITICS
He figured the trade war
was responsible for soybean
prices being $1.75 a bushel
“lower than they should be,”
with corn 50 cents lower
and hogs down about $20 an
animal.
“We sell 46 million hogs a
year,” Hayes said of state pork
production. “Do the math.”
Considering Iowa exported
about $1.1 billion in pork last
year – more than a quarter of
the state’s production – hog
farmers will suffer, Hayes
said, and he saw no quick
resolution.
“The trade war is not
going to end soon,” he said.
“[Trump] ratcheted it up with
China, and they’re pretty
skilled negotiators. … I see no
near-term solution.”
Gent farms 400 acres with
his son and father: corn,
soybeans, hay, beef cows, and
some Berkshire sows.
“They need to stabilize the
market by getting trade figured
out,” he said, saying farmers
wanted fairness and stability.
“It’ll all work out at the end.
But the interim is kind of hard.
… Income dropped a whole
lot faster than expenses for
us.”
Allen had a more definite
timetable.
“I’d definitely like to get
overseas trade back,” he said.
“By spring, we need to see
some of these trade deals
worked out, or we’re going to
be hurting pretty good.”
Despite the current pain
they’re feeling, farmers are
not opposed to the president’s
strategy of attacking unfair
trade practices of some nations,
especially China.
“Do you like it? No,”
Campbell said of the trade
war. “But at some point, you
gotta hit back. … I think most
farmers support a wake-up
shot across the bow.”
Gent agreed, but suggested
the tough talk between nations
needed to give way to more
diplomacy.
“No question, things needed
Dermot Hayes
Professor of Economics,
Iowa State University
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
to change,” he said of trading
practices. “But the president
is pretty abrupt about making
changes.”
Farm Bill may
reduce funding
for ag programs
Equally difficult might
be negotiations between the
House and Senate on a new
farm bill.
Funding for agriculture
programs is expected to be
lower than in the four-year
act that is expiring – as it was
in both the recent House- and
Senate-passed bills.
Farmers are likely to see
hits in conservation programs
and aid to young farmers to
get them started and keep
them afloat.
But the large majority of
money – 85 percent – in the
bill goes to food assistance
programs, especially the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance
Program, more popularly
known as food stamps, which
is 70 percent of the spending.
Craig Gundersen, a professor
of agriculture strategy in
the College of Agricultural,
Consumer and Environmental
Services at the University of
Illinois, fears the effect of
drastic cuts to programs that
help low-income people. He
studies food insecurity and
food assistance programs, and
he said politics had traditionally
not entered the congressional
debate on anti-hunger
130 EASTERN IOWA FARMER | FALL 2018 eifarmer.com