Ag farmer in Yuma says tariffs can affect all farmers in the industry
On Tuesday, the president announced a massive 12 billion bailout package for farmers hurt by the president’s escalating trade war.
The proposal includes direct payments to farmers, purchasing excess crops and building new export markets. He asks the farmers to be patient for this to happen.
The AG community is huge in both Yuma and the Imperial Valley and today we asked a local farmer what or who would be affected with this proposal come September.
According to Cecil Pratt, President of the Arizona Farm Bureau, in Yuma County, it won’t affect farmers as much as it would affect those in the Midwest.
“President Trump… this is his method of negotiating…so he throws out a number and then he sees whether or not that is going to fly,” said Pratt.
Hay growers could be affected by the tariffs.
“A super big deal has been the milk and dairy for Yuma county, I bought my milk yesterday and it was pretty cheap and I have been told the worst thing for hay growers is cheap milk and so that has been part of the negotiation of what is going on with Canadian milk and Canadian cheese and so that hinders into Yuma County,” added Pratt.
Pratt says he needs the industry to do well:
“when the dairy industry is hurting they can’t afford to buy the forge that we produce …we currently have two months of hay production in the stack we are cutting this week and if none of that hay is shipped between now and the end of the week when we bail that, that means we are going to have three months. A forge producer needs dairy to do well.”
Cotton is also a commodity that will be affected.
“At least every day I look at the cotton market to see where the price is every day and it has been staying fairly strong, but the cotton market always watches closely what is going on in China,” said Pratt.
Yuma also plays a huge role in the cotton industry, “the most important part that we play in the cotton industry is we produce the seed for a large portion of the United States…Yuma does this consistently in many different commodities producing seed that is used around the country,” added Pratt.
