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Hi, it’s Josh Sanburn, producer with More To The Story.
Growing up in southern Indiana, I was surrounded by fields of corn and soybeans. As a kid, I never knew where it all ended up. My small-town grocery store? Feed for the cows? But back in the ’90s and early 2000s, many of those crops were increasingly going from Midwestern farms to Chinese dinner tables. Markets were globalizing. Countries were intertwining. And US agriculture exports were growing.
Over the last few months, President Donald Trump has tried to reverse many of the long-term economic forces that have sent farm goods overseas and closed factory doors in the US. He’s imposed a series of sky-high tariff rates on Chinese goods that have led China to impose its own set of tariffs on US exports. Sometimes, Trump describes the moves as a negotiating tactic. Other times, he says it’s a way to bring back American manufacturing. But whatever the slippery rationale, it’s particularly affecting farmers.
Planning is essential for farmers, whether it’s trying to predict a wet or dry summer (Farmers’ Almanac, anyone?) or what the market will be like for wheat in October. The tariff upheaval from the Trump administration has injected a dose of uncertainty for farms that have already planted their crops, with little idea what markets will look like come harvest time.
One of those farmers caught in limbo is Bryant Kagay in the northwest corner of Missouri, a red state that voted overwhelmingly for Trump—as did Kagay, even though he knew this tariff upheaval might be coming and potentially threaten his business. On this week’s More To The Story, Kagay talks with host Al Letson about why he still voted for Trump and how he’s managing the farm while keeping an eye on Washington and Beijing. I hope you’ll listen.
—Josh Sanburn, More To The Story producer
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