Farm Tensions Escalate as USDA Staffer Threatened in Midwest
- ‘It’s clearly a stressful time right now,’ tour organizer says
- Arrest made at crop tour event, not connected to USDA threat
A crop scout walks between a corn and soybean fields during the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour in Chatsworth, Illinois, on Aug. 20.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In a sign of rising tensions with the farm community, the Trump administration withdrew staff from a privately run tour of Midwestern corn and soybean fields after a government employee was threatened.
While the threat came from someone not involved in the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour, the U.S. Department of Agriculture pulled all its staff as a precaution. Lance Honig, crops chief at the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, was scheduled to address the tour in Nebraska City Tuesday night but a video interview with him was screened instead.