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Post-pandemic trade uncertainties top of mind for Midwest farmers
Amidst other challenges, disputes across the globe are top of mind for two Midwest farmers who are losing the hope that came with signed trade deals this past year.
Braden Thomas farms corn and soybeans in central Illinois.
“Do we have a trade deal or do we not? Are we speaking with China or are we not? Are we speaking with Russia or are we not?”
Missouri row crop and dairy farmer Sean Cornelius agrees
that trade was beginning to look up with the start of the phase one deal with
China and signing of the USMCA.
“Will those kick back in really quick and give us a nice bump going into the fall? I think only time will tell. There are too many world unknowns right now, not only with the pandemic but with trade that I don’t know if anybody can accurately predict what is going to happen.”
The farmers say trade is a factor in the low commodity prices they are experiencing, alongside effects from the coronavirus, which Thomas expects will be felt for at least five years.
