MADISON, WI – This morning, Senator Jeff Smith (SD-31) was joined by US Senator Tammy Baldwin and President of Chippewa Valley Bean, Cindy Brown, to speak on the negative effects the Trump administration’s commitment to chaos is having on Wisconsin farmers and our economy.
Ahead of Trump’s visit to the Chippewa Valley this afternoon, Senator Smith, Senator Baldwin, and Cindy Brown made it clear that the administration’s war of choice in Iran, the reckless usage of tariffs are hurting the bottom line of Wisconsin farmers — while Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany rubber-stamp this harmful agenda.
Senator Jeff Smith on the effects Trump’s economy is having on rural Wisconsin:
“I hear from farmers about the struggles they face because of the Trump administration and MAGA politicians like Congressman Tiffany or Van Orden, putting billionaires ahead of working Wisconsinites. Trump’s coming here to tout his MAGA agenda while farmers and working families are struggling. It’s just totally out of touch and a slap in the face of the people of Western Wisconsin. Rural folks in my district, they’re having a hard time under this MAGA economy. Inflation numbers show that Wisconsin households are paying $2,267 more on average for everyday essentials since Trump took office, and Wisconsinites now pay $549 more for housing and $390 more for transportation.”
President of Chippewa Valley Bean, Cindy Brown, on the struggles Wisconsin farmers are facing:
“For our company, the direct hit is very difficult, because Chippewa Valley Bean cannot ship beans to our customers in Dubai, because vessels cannot transit the Strait of Hormuz. On top of that, other freight costs into the Gulf have increased by $4,000 a load, and we can’t afford those prices, nor can our customers. Farmers are telling me that they’re getting desperate under this pressure. We see their anxiety, we feel it too. These farmers are worried about making their loan payments and about losing their farms, and these are farms that have been in their families for generations. There’s no clear end in sight right now, and the longer this goes on, the more money farmers lose, and the darker the outlook becomes. Farmers are used to dealing with things they can’t control. There’s weather, there’s unpredictable markets, but our elected representatives cannot continue to work against our interests by choice. The continued Republican support for tariffs and the war in Iran has been deeply disappointing, and given the damage to agriculture, profoundly unhelpful. We need representatives who are committed to stabilizing the agricultural economy. We are not asking for bailouts, we’re just asking for stable markets, strong and reliable trade relationships, and lower, more predictable.”
Senator Tammy Baldwin on how the Trump administration is hurting working people:
“When I visited farms recently throughout Western Wisconsin, and specifically in the Chippewa Valley, I heard firsthand about the absolute chaos and uncertainty that this president is causing. Last week, I was in Stoddard, and I heard from a family farmer that had their fuel bill doubled since the war started. This is an operation that uses over 1000 gallons of diesel a day during this planting spring season. Another farmer told me that he couldn’t even get a reliable fertilizer quote because the prices were changing so rapidly. I also heard from soybean farmers who spent years building relationships with customers overseas, only to watch those markets completely disappear because of trade disputes.”
