Wheat Growers on Trade Pt 1
I'm Bob Larson. More help is on the way for wheat growers. On Tuesday, the Trump Administration announced it would provide $12 billion to help farmers cope with the results of the current trade dispute ignited by U.S. tariffs ... but is that the answer?HENNINGS-5 = 13 ... "Farmers are very uneasy right now with the trade situation. And, we've been working the Farm Bill really hard to try and get a Farm Bill passed so that farmers have some kind of certainty because of the trade situation along with low prices."
Washington Association of Wheat Growers Director Michelle Hennings says it hits our growers very hard ...
HENNINGS-7 = 19 ... "And the problem is, with wheat growers, you know we're price takers. So, everything in our area, in the Pacific Northwest, 90% of our wheat is exported so these customer relations are really important and if you lose that we, potentially, could never get them back. So, that's a scary thought."
Hennings says the trade pacts are key ...
HENNINGS-8 = 20 ... "One of the agreements that will be very impactful to our area is the TPP agreement. The President didn't sign back into that and that is going to hurt us because, right now, the countries are signing on to the agreement and the U.S. will be left out which means that our competitors such as Australia and Canada will have more of an advantage than we do."
Hennings says right now farmers are understanding, but ag is taking the heat so something needs to be done sooner rather than later.
Listen tomorrow for more on Northwest wheat and the trade war.