Farmers had it with Trump

– Warren Bachman, a 72-year-old Iowa soybean farmer, is one of many who turned Clarke County into Donald Trump country, as the Republican president took 61% of the votes in 2016 in a county that went for Democrat Barack Obama four years earlier.

But Bachman’s loyalty to Trump is wavering under the weight of a trade war that has disproportionately hurt farmers due to big tariffs on agricultural exports. Other farmers are upset that the White House has not yet followed through on a promise to reform rules that would boost demand for corn-based ethanol, one of the state’s biggest businesses.

“I still support him, but not as much,” Bachman said. “I am afraid we are close to seeing a repeat of the ’80s, where farmers across Iowa lost their land because they ran out of money and couldn’t get loans.”

November’s congressional elections represent the first nationwide response to Trump’s aggressive trade policies, particularly in the Farm Belt, which runs roughly from Indiana to Kansas and the Dakotas, which favoured Trump heavily two years ago.

The administration’s move to impose numerous tariffs on imports has sparked retaliation, particularly from top agricultural buyer China, which put levies on products like hogs, corn and soybeans. Soybeans are among the hardest-hit, with prices down 15% since May.

The US exported $138 billion (R2 trillion) in agriculture products in 2017, including $21.5 billion in soybeans, according to the US department of agriculture.

Farmers say they are growing impatient as harvest season approaches. Trump’s support in the Farm Belt has dipped from 59% approval in mid-June to 52% in early August, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Trump won Iowa by 10 percentage points in 2016, after Obama carried the state twice. – Reuters

Des Moines