{"id":75325,"date":"2019-05-31T09:33:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T14:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persian-heritage.com\/wordpress\/?p=75325"},"modified":"2019-05-31T09:33:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-31T14:33:06","slug":"us-farmers-caught-in-perfect-storm-of-trade-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2019\/05\/31\/us-farmers-caught-in-perfect-storm-of-trade-weather\/","title":{"rendered":"US Farmers Caught in \u2018Perfect Storm\u2019 of Trade, Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"VOA – The constant beat of rain upon the metal roof of Megan Dwyer\u2019s barn on her rural Illinois farm is an all-too-familiar and unwelcome sound at this time of year. \u201cWe picked up another 8\/10ths (2 cm) last night,\u201d she told VOA, competing to be heard over the noise created by the constant downpour on the barn. \u201cWe\u2019ve probably picked up another 3 or 4 this morning.\u201d It has been one of the wettest planting seasons 30-year-old Dwyer has ever experienced. \u201cIdeally we\u2019d like to be done planted with corn and have a good chunk of our beans in, and we\u2019re maybe 5% planted in total right now,\u201d she said. And there\u2019s no relief in sight.<\/p>\n

One of the wettest 12 months<\/strong><\/div>\n

Continued rainfall across the Midwest extended a trend resulting in one of the wettest 12-month cycles on record in the United States. Prime farmland across the country continues to struggle with flooding and poor conditions for planting, among other issues.<\/p>\n

At the end of May, Illinois farmers had about 35% of their crops planted, a dramatic contrast to an average of 95% in past years at the same time.<\/p>\n

Dwyer is among many nationwide who have to make a decision soon \u2014 plant very late and hope it grows in time. Or, says Dwyer, \u201cYou\u2019ve got the prevented plant option, which is where you don\u2019t put a crop in at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cprevented plant option\u201d is a crop insurance claim payout meant to help farmers deal with the loss of income because of poor planting weather, an option that is rarely used.<\/p>\n

Stressful year gets more stressful<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are trying to figure out how they\u2019re going to make some money, how they\u2019re going to pay the bills,\u201d said Illinois Farm Bureau National Legislative Director Adam Nielsen. He added that the continued rainfall is creating a perfect economic storm for those already dealing with five consecutive years of negative farm income.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be normally a very stressful year to begin with. But when you add the fact that we\u2019re now entering year 2 of a trade war, and a lot of our markets are closed off to us, that adds a higher level anxiety right now. And that\u2019s what our members are feeling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The recent breakdown in trade negotiations between the United States and China has only added to Dwyer\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixty percent of our soybeans get exported. For us, two-thirds of our soybeans, so more than that. And our end user is China, so there is a lot of uncertainty around where this product is going to go,\u201d said Dwyer, who has been tending to the cattle on her farm in the time she has free because of the deluge that has left her farm soggy, muddy and bare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rain on top of that, and the flooding, and not being able to get barges and river traffic through \u2014 nobody can even move the product, even if there was a buyer,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty scary and uncertain times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200bTrump offer a dilemma<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s promise to compensate farmers through another proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture aid package estimated at $16 billion this year may provide some relief for farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I don\u2019t want it,\u201d Dwyer explained. \u201cI\u2019d rather have markets and access to a real place for my product to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump ‘Honored’ to Provide US Farmers with $16 Billion in Aid <\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

But Dwyer, like most farmers, is realistically left with little choice but to accept the aid to help make ends meet to help the farm survive to plant another day. But with the aid, comes stigma, Dwyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen several comments, \u2018Farmers are just looking for welfare.\u2019 We\u2019re looking for a handout. We\u2019re waiting for the government to pay for us to do this. And that\u2019s not at all what happens. We\u2019re doing it so we can put food on our table, and have a crop and product to share with the rest of the country and the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But before there can be a product to share, there needs to be clear skies and warmth to dry out Dwyer\u2019s fields so she can plant.<\/p>\n

At least in the short term, the weather forecast isn\u2019t providing much hope.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA – The constant beat of rain upon the metal roof of Megan Dwyer\u2019s barn on her rural Illinois farm is an all-too-familiar and unwelcome sound at this time of year. \u201cWe picked up another 8\/10ths (2 cm) last night,\u201d she told VOA, competing to be heard over the noise created by the constant downpour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}