Family farmers flee the field amid trade war, sagging prices
BEATTIE, KANSAS -- Shuffling across his frozen fields, farmer Jim Taphorn hunched his shoulders against the wind and squinted at the auctioneer standing next to his tractors.After a fifth harvest with low grain prices, made worse last fall by the U.S.-China trade war, the 68-year-old and his family were calling it quits. Farming also was taking a physical toll on him, he said; he'd suffered a heart attack 15 months before.
It took less than four hours to sell off all the tractors, combines and other farm equipment at the Taphorn retirement sale, ending a family tradition that had survived nearly a century.
"We went through the bad times in the '70s and '80s," said Jim, 68, broad-shouldered and stocky. "In some ways, this is worse."
Across the Midwest, growing numbers of grain farmers are choosing to shed their machinery and find renters for their land, all to stem the financial strain on their families, a dozen leading farm-equipment auction houses told Reuters. As these older grain farmers are retiring, fewer younger people are lining up to replace them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/family-farmers-flee-the-field-amid-trade-war-sagging-prices/ar-AAAJAsR?ocid=spartanntp
= new reply since forum marked as read
Big Ag is always looking for times like these to snap up family farms at discount rates.
Trump's tariffs just provided another big buying opportunity for Big AG.
More corporatism, just what we need. 
He'll be sure to fix things *next time!* 
