Gov't Shutdown Week 4
From the Ag information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The government shutdown enters its fourth week with no end in sight, while pressure builds for emergency farm aid and a deal to reopen China to U.S. soybeans.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox News that emergency aid will flow to row croppers once the shutdown ends, while unspent funds are in the pipeline …
ROLLINS … “We’ve got about 10 billion dollars from the last package that’s separate from what we’re discussing right now, but yes, these are row croppers, so soybeans, sorghum, wheat, corn, cotton, and everyone that is currently caught in the crosshairs.”
Rollins says it’s not just trade wars hurting growers, but soaring input costs too …
ROLLINS … “73 percent in interest, 47 percent in labor, and 36 percent increase in fertilizer and farm equipment. These are all things that were targeted, which we’re working on. We’re also working to ensure we’re bringing down all those costs of inputs. We can’t afford to lose any more farms in this country.”
It’s a cry coming from the countryside through the halls of Congress.
Ag appropriations Chair John Hoeven …
HOEVEN … “Our farmers are having a hard time right now, as you well know. As the administration works to secure better trade deals with other nations, it’s critical that we don’t allow China to use our farmers as a pressure point.”
To counter that, Hoeven and other farm-state lawmakers argue for providing emergency farm aid as a bridge until enhanced support prices and crop insurance kick in.
