Just like in his first term, Trump is screwing over the soybean farmers, but only worse this time. It's the same pattern as last time. Trump puts a tariff on China because he doesn't know what the fuck he is doing. China said screw this and goes shopping elsewhere. Trump ends up bailing out the farmers for more money than it would have cost if he did nothing. To make things worse, Trump can't do shit because he shut down the government so there is no one to do the work needed to get the money to the farmers.
While the farmers said that they would take the stimulus check from the government if it meant keeping their farm afloat, they would do so reluctantly and would rather just have worked within the market.
Matt Rehberg operates a farm near the Wisconsin-Illinois border and is the vice president of the Wisconsin Soybean Association.
He says the boycott from China — which purchased around half of all U.S. soybean exports last year — has made this year especially hard for soybean farmers. But he believes bailout programs are only a temporary solution.
“We want markets. Markets are consistent. We can bet on them,” he said. “When you go to these ad hoc bailout programs, they definitely help. But it’s kind of like putting a Band-aid on a gunshot wound.”
The report goes on to say that the farmers are actually on shakier ground this time round. Why? Because they never recovered from Trump's first trade war:
Rehberg, with the Wisconsin Soybean Association, said the soybean market never fully recovered after the first trade war with China.
“We never regained that lost ground,” he said. “In fact, China went shopping for a new supplier. We became a little less reliable to them, so they went to mainly South America and started buying soybeans there.”
And another bailout wouldn’t do anything to help farmers regain ground in the Chinese market or grow other international markets, said Jonathan Coppess, a professor of agricultural policy at the University of Illinois.
“It’s not going to fix the lost market problems that we’re talking about,” he said. “It could harm farmers in the long run if, for example, costs stay high or we plant soybeans for a market that doesn’t exist.”
The good news is that I think I have a solution. Instead of bailing out the farmers, let the government buy all the soybeans that would have gone to China. They could then use the soybeans to make tofu to serve at state dinners on Trump's Pedo Patio or to feed the hard working men and women in uniform that Trump is sending out to terrorize US cities. And it may even help Trump lose a few tons.
