Harvesting in a trade war: U.S. crops rot as storage costs soar

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



NOVEMBER 21, 2018 / 1:07 AM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Mark Weinraub, P.J. Huffstutter

6 MIN READ

(Reuters) - U.S. farmers finishing their harvests are facing a big problem - where to put the mountain of grain they cannot sell to Chinese buyers.

For Louisiana farmer Richard Fontenot and his neighbors, the solution was a costly one: Let the crops rot. Fontenot plowed under 1,000 of his 1,700 soybean acres this fall, chopping plants into the dirt instead of harvesting more than $300,000 worth of beans.

His beans were damaged by bad weather, made worse by a wet harvest. Normally, he could sell them anyway to a local elevator - giant silos usually run by international grains merchants that store grain. But this year they aren’t buying as much damaged grain. The elevators are already chock full.

“No one wants them,” Fontenot said in a telephone interview. As he spoke, he drove his tractor across a soybean field, tilling under his crop. “I don’t know what else to do.”





Read more: https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-grains/harvesting-in-a-trade-war-u-s-crops-rot-as-storage-costs-soar-idUKKCN1NQ0GA

[sakabatou]

1. Grain prices are going to keep getting worse

until the trade war ends. I hope the prices get better when the war ends.

[olegramps]

9. My, my; elections have consequences. It is difficult to extend sympathy in this case.

[violetpastille]

27. Those consequences effect us all.

If the farmers are in debt, they can't buy my products or yours.

[dem in texas]

34. Will still vote for Trump

The soybean farmers will come in from the fields, plop down in their recliners and turn on Fox News which fills their heads with right wing gibberish. I know: I have republican righty farmers in my family and they will vote Repub till they die!

[UpInArms]

37. This 👆🏼

am surrounded by these right wing socialist farmers

[BigmanPigman]

40. Thank you fro verifying what I have been presuming.

[paleotn]

56. Yep

[IronLionZion]

2. But the tax cuts are helping

I worry about any farmers still supporting Dolt 45.

[louis c]

3. More Trump Voters Getting Fucked...

...my heart bleeds.

[Turbineguy]

5. This sort of thing is bad for everybody.

Of course, some of us could tell that trump was unfit and others couldn't.

[louis c]

11. Some people have to learn the hard way.

Let me tell you a true story. A well educated Director of a non-profit that I am a member of the Board of Directors on, voted for Trump in 2016. I told him he would be sorry and broke his balls every time a Trump decision hurt our organization. Finally, he apologized to me for voting for Trump and asked what it would take to get me to stop breaking his balls about his vote. I said I would only accept his apology if he put the apology on the same face book page he placed his support for Trump on in 2016 and admitting his mistake. He did that and now we are good.

The farmers have to do the same thing for me to have sympathy for their plight. They have to publicly renounce their support of Trump. If not, I really don't give a fuck if they lose everything.

[CentralMass]

12. +1

[dbackjon]

21. I would have added a pledge to never vote for a Republican again

Anyone connected to a REAL non-profit that votes GOP is cutting their own throat.

[louis c]

32. I'm in Massachusetts...

...and although I always vote a straight Democratic ticket all the time for every office, our origination has done pretty well getting state funding during the Baker administration. I know I wouldn't be able to extract that kind of commitment from our Executive Director.

It's a 21 member board encompassing 3 small cities with a combined population of about 125,000 people. We provide day care services, early childhood education, fuel assistance, weatherization, job training, temporary housing, substance abuse counseling and rehab as well as other such services. Our operating budget is $14 million a year and there is one union board member's seat set aside for an AFL-CIO appointed (unpaid) person. That's me. We meet once a month for about 2 hours, so it is part of my workday.

Union's encourage their officers to participate in these organizations so we can give back to the community. I've served on this board for about 8 years and the union I work for has made some substantial contributions to this non-profit.

[Oneironaut]

52. "The reason we cannot sell our crops is because the Libtards are blocking Trump's true agenda, etc."

They will never learn. That would mean renouncing the Dear Leader. There will always be a line of excuses and apologia by them.

[violetpastille]

28. +1

[paleotn]

57. Not my fault or yours

It’s their fault. They bought it, they own it.

[duforsure]

4. Many will lose their farms completely

For trusting a con man, and his policies from him and the gop, or not , then suffer more like all his supporters will soon be facing as their economy , health care, and jobs go south from trump's tariffs,and they will.

[Turbineguy]

14. And trump's cronies

can buy them up cheap.

[politicaljunkie41910]

18. Dems don't need to gloat, and I'm not suggesting that you are gloating. We just need to take the

Joe Biden approach and have some compassion for those farmers and all those other people who filled stadiums chanting, "Lock her up" when they finally come to the realization that they were conned. For many this won't be easy. These people many of whom will have lost everything will know in the end that Trump was a charlatan who lied about everything, to everybody, and that's what a conman does. We need to show them why Democrats are different. For NOW, Dems need to cut out the infighting and throw their support behind Pelosi so we look, walk and talk, like an organized party who knows how to lead when given the opportunity by voters; not just how to squabble.

[Downtown Hound]

33. Our party will always show compassion

To people like this in the form if the policies we enact, which will benefit them. There will be no penalty from us. But I have no problem shaming them for their stupidity. At some point they need to snap out of the coma of ignorance in which they live, which is putting us all in danger as a country and as a planet. If we make it too easy for them to wash their hands of this mess they've created we'll be right back here again in 10 to 15 years.

[Botany]

6. You'll get tired of so much winning

n/t

[Achilleaze]

7. Thanks a diaperload, republicans

This is all on the deplorable repubs.

[33taw]

8. And, the many farmers keep on voting republican. Grrrr....

[flibbitygiblets]

29. Yet they "don't know what else to do". How about don't vote for an obvious CON, for f**ks sake.

What do we have to do, send someone dressed up as Jeebus to smack these people upside the head and say "smarten up, idiot!!"?

[33taw]

38. A bunch of them worry about gun rights. It is pounded into them that liberals want to take

.away all their hunting rifles.

[flibbitygiblets]

39. Sadly they'll need those hunting rifles for food thanks to their "hero" Trump

Good thing we got all that extra money from those massive tax cuts...oh right...

[33taw]

45. I live in farm country in WI. I just laugh when I see all the republican signs.

They have no clue that the republicans don’t give a rats ass about them. The impact of tarriff’s and corporate deals have a huge impact on them, but all they see is gun and abortion rights. Grrr....

[The Liberal Lion]

10. Imagine how many families in America that grain could feed

or imagine how many countries to which we could donate that grain

[Roy Rolling]

13. Hmmm

Surprising a New York City apartment-dweller knows so little about farming.

[hibbing]

15. My state will remain solidly R sadly

I'm old enough to remember when we actually had some Democratic senators and a governor. Those days are long gone and our legislature is becoming more right wing with each session. I saw a map of the voting for the expansion of Medicaid. Omaha and Lincoln yes, the rest of the state a solid no. The rural/urban divide is getting worse everywhere.


Peace

[louis c]

17. Too bad. Medicad helps rural whites more than every other demographic...

...yet they vote "racist first".

[hibbing]

24. It actually passed by a good margin

But only because the populations in the two cities voted so overwhelmingly in favor of it.

Peace

[louis c]

25. The people it helps the most voted against it...

...yet when they participate, they'll never give the credit to the people who created it and protected it. Just like Social Security and Medicare.

[safeinOhio]

16. I don't eat it, but does anyone

know if the price of tofu has seen a big drop?

[CrispyQ]

22. No drop.

$1.79 for a one pound block. Eighteen months ago it was $1.29.

But that seems to always happen. When some ingredient goes up, so does everything it's in, but when it goes back down, the products stay the same price.

[violetpastille]

30. Tofu is about 1.50 per pound here at Walmart.

And remains steady but that tofu is organic and non-GMO.

They can't use the soybeans meant for Chinese livestock for tofu. It's not healthful for humans.

[safeinOhio]

35. My Endocrinologist told me to never eat

anything made of soy, except soy sauce. Not good for men.

[violetpastille]

36. I think that's good advice.

I love soy, but not for my husband.

(I try to keep the house artificially fragrance free for him too. Gonna start making my own laundry detergent.

[Stardust1]

47. Soy

The hormone thing with soy has been proven a myth for a while now.

[safeinOhio]

48. Damn that Google,

lying again

I'm not taking any chances with my hormones.

[TexasBushwhacker]

49. It's bad for people with thyroid problems

And a lot of people have thyroid problems.

[CrispyQ]

19. It's so easy to destroy. Not so easy to build.

Some of these markets took years to build & Trump just took a sledgehammer to them. A lot of the smaller farms will never recover from this. Maybe some big agra company can come in & buy them all up at fire sale prices.

But her emails. Not a lot of sympathy for those who voted for Trump.

[TexasBushwhacker]

50. I do wonder if it's all to support BigAg n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

20. "I don't know what else to do."

Richard Fontenot from Ville Platte, LA where -

Rep. Mike Johnson, a Republican, has won another term representing Louisiana's 4th Congressional District, beating Ryan Trundle, a Democrat.

<...>

The district went for President Trump, a Republican, in 2016 by a margin of 24 points. Trump won Louisiana by 19.6 points.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/louisiana-4th-congressional-district/?utm_term=.258df4753b14

and -

After packing nearly half a million bushels of corn and soybeans in their usual steel bins, Terry Honselman and his family found some additional space in 35-year-old shed on their Casey, Illinois, farm.

Most years, the building protects farm equipment and bags of seed. Now, it is stuffed with 75,000 bushels of corn. Like others, Honselman is banking on a resolution to the trade war before this spring - when he says he will need the space back for his planting supplies.

Casey, IL (where Honselman lives) is in IL-15 where -

Rep. John Shimkus, a Republican, has won another term representing Illinois' 15th Congressional District, beating Kevin Gaither, a Democrat.

<...>

The district went for President Trump, a Republican, in 2016 by a margin of 46.2 points. Democrat Hillary Clinton won Illinois by 16.9 points.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/election-results/illinois-15th-congressional-district/?utm_term=.e98895417de7

The opportunity to "do" something came and went a couple weeks ago.

[CrispyQ]

23. "Like others, Honselman is banking on a resolution to the trade war before this spring..."

Dude! Trump has soured relations with everyone. They will buy corn from anyone but the USA if they can find it elsewhere. Also, your petulant child-president will double down before he ever lets up on his trade war. Sell the farm now, while you can still get a good price, move to a blue state, & join the human race.

[haele]

51. Must not be an experianced commodities seller...

I may be a California City Grrrl who occasionally goes to farmer's markets, but I talk to the vendors, and my parents have stories about friends who with family farms and ranches during the 40's and 50's.

I have learned that if you grow a common commodity and have a bad year, forcing your buyers go somewhere else to buy their produce, they aren't coming back - primarily because the next year or so you're charging more to play "catch-up" on your debts. You won't be giving them a reason to come back the next year. Essentially, you have to build up your customer base back from scratch, and you're already starting behind every other seller in the market.

A resolution to the Trade War next spring won't help Mr. Honselman one bit. Without a lot of belt tighting, understanding creditors, and sheer dumb luck, he's probably going to have to sell acerage to keep from going under over the next five - ten years. Which affects his credit. If he isn't banking his own seed - if he's buying seed every year from Monsanto or ADM or some other mega-corp, he needs to start going back to college and learning a new skill, because his farm is done for.
The Trade War needed to be resolved back last June for him to be able to recover.

Haele

[flibbitygiblets]

31. +1

some people are incapable of learning.

[nykym]

26. Well Richard

maybe you should vote for a Democrat.

[workinclasszero]

41. "I don't know what else to do"

10 to 1 he votes GOP in 2020.

[modrepub]

42. SE PA Soybean Fields Unharvested

Seen many fields of soy beans (yes I know what they look like) still sitting unharvested. Most of the other crops have been collected already (first snow last week). I'm assuming the farmers who own them aren't even bothering collecting them and will plow them under in the spring. What a waste.

[sfwriter]

43. What's crazy is for some items, like pork, the price at the grocery hasn't fallen.

I read that cold storage was maxed out, yet my price per pound does not reflect a glut.

[cntrfthrs]

44. boo f'n hoo...

cry me a river...... ...you all voted for that idiot...now take your medicine....

[Stardust1]

46. You get what you give.

You wanna leave the Earth barren with your farming fertilizers then you get no sympathy.

[Maxheader]

53. You know, I've a few rightwinger ag sites..

I've frequented over time..And one in particular is pretty much spot on with
whats happening in the ag world..here in the usofa...

And they refute any storage problems, or for that matter that the subsidies
to offset the tariffs isn't working...

I think its a mix of positive and negative but be aware, please..there are two
sides to these things..

Be glad to hear from farmers that disagree...

[truthisfreedom]

54. Because wasting food as people starve is the repuke way

of doing business

[paleotn]

55. I know what you can do

Stop voting for morons. Voting for anyone but shitler would have been far better for Fontenot. I have zero sympathy

[Cold War Spook]

58. AgWeb has every state that grows soybeans at 100% planted

I guess they didn't bother to ride through Eastern NC. Maybe they can't tell the difference between soybeans and empty fields.