August 22, 2018

Crop Report Affirms Farmers' Fears

Farmers were already operating on slim margins, but Indiana Farm Bureau's Bob White says farmers could be operating with deficits depending on how they sold last year's crop. - Steve Burns/WTIU-WFIU News

Farmers were already operating on slim margins, but Indiana Farm Bureau's Bob White says farmers could be operating with deficits depending on how they sold last year's crop.

Steve Burns/WTIU-WFIU News

New data from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture confirms what many farmers have feared.

Prices for both corn and soybeans have fallen because of an increased supply and decreased demand.

Indiana Farm Bureau National Government Relations Director Bob White says he blames the situation largely on China’s retaliatory tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on a number of Chinese goods.

“You’ve extenuated that with the fact that, well, you’ve got a tariff problem out there," White says. "Basically, that leads to a supply problem. When you’ve got high supplies, you’ve got low prices.”

The number of soybean acres along with bushel per acre yields have also increased from last year.

President Trump announced $12 billion in aid packages to farmers affectted by declining prices in July. Details for how the aid will be distributed are still unknown.

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