Trade Wars….
Changes in buying due to the virus….
Further drop off’s …
Farmers get NO breaks….
They, like others in the economy, are gonna have hard times for a LONG while….
Will farmer’s STILL line up to vote for a President who has made their lives miserable ?
From farm gate to grocery aisle, the incredible tumult of the past two months is the fault of a microbe the president has dubbed the “invisible enemy” — and what critics say has been his erratic response to its attack. The health crisis also has exposed an agricultural economy that despite repeated injections of taxpayer support finds many farmers under growing and unexpected financial pressure.
“It’s going to be years before we return to where we were,” said Ryan Cranney, a potato farmer in Burley, Idaho, who said he faces losses of $3.5 million.
It was a triumphant president who strode onstage at the Austin Convention Center on a Sunday evening in January. Addressing an annual gathering of American farmers, he boasted about a pair of historic trade deals that would unleash a surge of lucrative orders for their soybeans, wheat and corn.
“I’ve told everybody: ‘You got to buy a lot of land, and you’ve got to get much bigger tractors right now,” Trump said. “The best days for America and the best days for America’s farmers and ranchers are yet to come.”…
But?
Small forms in some places are doing better selling to the public that can’t go and sit-down in big restaurant that gets produce, fruits and vegetables from big farmers…
Farms with a single crop meant for use in restaurants, like microgreens or edible flowers, face disaster, while those with diverse offerings (and especially root vegetables) have become bulwarks of the social order. After decades of struggle to prove they are sustainable businesses, small farms seem to be flourishing, while factory farms, in many cases, find themselves too big to pivot….