They voted for Donald Trump. Now soybean farmers could get slammed by the trade war he started. [View all]
They voted for Donald Trump. Now soybean farmers could get slammed by the trade war he started.
By Caitlin Dewey April 5
Bret Davis voted for Donald Trump in 2016, as did many of his fellow farmers in central Ohio. But as a brewing Chinese trade war begins to threaten U.S. exports, Davis fears his fifth-generation farm will suffer.
The farm, where Davis and his stepson grow 1,300 acres of soybeans, corn and wheat for Ritz crackers, may not withstand the long-term drop in crop prices a trade war could bring, Davis said. And although he supports President Trump's goal of making foreign trade more “balanced,” he's increasingly concerned that Trump's methods could harm the rural Americans who helped put him in office.
Polling commissioned by the trade site Agri-Pulse suggests that most farmers did: In a March survey of 750 farmers, largely concentrated in the Plain states and the Midwest, 67 percent said they voted for Trump and 45 percent said they would do so again.
“It’s no secret that a lot of rural America voted for President Trump,” said Kristin Duncanson, a Minnesota soybean farmer who says she sees growing anxiety among her neighbors and friends. “A lot of them were looking for change. I don’t think this is the change they anticipated.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/05/they-voted-for-president-trump-now-soybean-farmers-could-get-slammed-by-the-trade-war-he-started/?utm_term=.2a1f55da5bf4
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