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Farmer leaders concerned about dismal financial outlook
Leaders of state farm organizations are concerned about a dismal financial outlook for many producers.
Minnesota Farmers Union president Gary Wertish says the U.S. is expected to harvest a record corn crop this fall.
“Overall, the crop looks very good and you’ve got low prices. So that’s a concern, (plus) the high inputs and low margins. You’ve got 200-plus bushel corn out there in some fields and it probably doesn’t cash flow.”
Iowa Farm Bureau president Brent Johnson tells Brownfield trade uncertainty caused by tariffs isn’t helping.
“They cut both ways, both on the input side of the balance sheet as well as trade for our goods on the backside.”
And he says some type of federal assistance might be warranted.
“We need to find places for our products to go so that we can fix this broken system. So yes, we want trade (and to) find homes for that. And we would rather have that than all these other payments.”
Johnson says he spoke with U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins during the Iowa State Fair last week and she understands the challenges with the current ag economy.
Brownfield spoke to Wertish at Farmfest in southwest Minnesota last week.
Brownfield interviewed Johnson at the Iowa State Fair Tuesday.
Farm bureau endorsed Trump and his tariffs!