, Columnist
Hard Times Test Farm Belt’s Loyalty to Trump
A bumper soybean crop is piling up in grain silos as China purchases stall. It will only get worse if trade tensions persist.
Soy sourced from America is off the table for Chinese buyers.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
While most of America is booming, family farms are struggling.
The median household income for farm owner-operators will fall for the fourth consecutive year in 2018, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That’s partly a result of weak prices for agricultural commodities: The majority of such farms lose money on their produce and only make it up thanks to income from off-farm work, investments and government benefits. Still, the trade war with China isn’t helping any.