MADISON, WI – Shot: Earlier this year, on Spectrum News, Sen. Howard Marklein (SD-17) downplayed the serious damage tariffs would do to Wisconsin’s agricultural industry.
Chaser: New reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes growing anxiety in Wisconsin’s farming community. Despite the President’s promise to distribute $12 billion in aid to farmers impacted by his trade war, many are concerned it won’t be enough to keep them afloat. Soybean farmers, in particular, are struggling with falling prices and declining exports in 2025. Bottom line, farmers are reeling from the past year of uncertainty and trade wars, with many doubting that the President’s vague plan will do enough.
Howard Marklein downplays tariffs impact on Wisconsin Farmers:
Spectrum News: In Focus: Sen. Marklein discusses impact of tariffs on Wisconsin
- “They aren’t probably nearly as concerned as what you might expect them to be”
- “I think they would prefer it if there were no tariffs. But on the other hand a message I’ve heard from a lot of farmers is, if it takes these tariffs to resolve some of the trade imbalances then, they are all for it.”
- “I think they are willing to maybe give up some short term profits for something that may benefit them more in the long term.”
Wisconsin farmers make it clear tariffs are threatening their livelihoods:
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin farmers worry that Trump farm aid won’t be enough
- “Experts anticipate that the aid will help farmers, but it won’t cover the 2025 losses from countries pulling back on their purchases of American goods.”
- “Three years ago, a bushel of soybeans sold for about $14. That same bushel is now selling for about $9.30, he said, largely because of the impact of China, which had been the largest U.S. export market.”
- “Some farmers may be looking at a very tough decision: whether they can afford to keep their farm going.”
- “Paul Mitchell, chairman of the Agricultural and Applied Economics program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said many farmers weren’t prepared for the drop seen in soybean prices in recent years, and the tariffs compounded the situation. ‘It creates a lot of uncertainty,’ he said. ‘That’s the effect of these trade wars.’”
- “‘There’s a lot of fear and anxiety in the farming world right now,’ Rebout said. ‘Because farmers don’t know what’s going on, and they’re afraid of losing farms that have been in their families for generations.’”
- “Trump’s aid package will provide an injection of capital just in time for farmers to buy seeds, fertilizer and insecticide in the spring months, but Rebout said $12 billion isn’t enough to cover the $27 billion impact Trump’s tariff wars have had on the industry overall.”
- “Shortly after the aid announcement, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland called the package ‘a Band-Aid on an open wound.’”
- “Mitchell said that some older farmers may choose to leave the industry and sell off their land, while other farmers get creative in keeping their business alive.”
