Farmers union president on shutdown

Well, a shutdown, we're in our second day of it. The impact immediately is, there was some payments, disaster payments, some emergency commodity assistance payments that actually got approved in December of 2024. And some more additional payments were supposed to be rolled out. Well, that's on pause. But then another thing, too, there's a lot of farmers that deal with loans through the FSA. And that's all stopped, too. So that's the immediate effect of the shutdown.

And this comes, of course, at a time when tariffs are also having a serious impact on farmers. So it's sort of a two-punch there. What kind of fallout are you seeing in Minnesota farms, farmers seeing in that respect, the tariffs and now the shutdown?

Yeah, the timing couldn't be worse. The farmers right now are under extreme hardships right now. Our input prices are high, and our commodity prices are low. And primarily, the tariffs, the president's use of tariffs has got a lot to do with it, you know? And farmers-- the president, in his first term, he put the trade war on primarily against China at that time. Before that, the United States was the number one supplier of soybeans to China. We're not anymore. Brazil is. And so we haven't fully recovered. We haven't recovered from that. That from his first trade war, and now we're doing it again against not only China, but a lot of other countries in the world, too. So just this last week, the president gave Argentina $20 billion, and Argentina bought or sold a lot of soybeans to China the next day. And the United States still hasn't sold anything to China. So it couldn't come at a worse time. The farmers in Minnesota, we have a mediation law. The bankers have to offer the farmer a mediation before they do foreclosure. And we're about 2/3 of the year into this year in 2025, and we already have more requests for mediation than we did all of '23 and '24. So the stress in the farm country is real. And primarily, the president's use of tariffs is driving a lot of that right now. And we've lost market. Through his love of the tariffs, we've lost markets that we won't get back. They keep making public statements that they're making these framework deals. And but the damage has been done. And the longer this drags on, the worse it'll be. They'll more than likely make another payment to the farmers, which they need. There's no doubt about that. But the long-term damage is there as far as losing our trust as a reliable trading partner with other countries around the world. We're not the only country that produces soybeans. Brazil has, through the president's first term till now, using a series of tariffs, Brazil has expanded their soybean production, their acres that puts a threat in already taking some of the makers out of the Brazilian Amazon forest. If they do, if that's where some of them are coming, that puts the whole world at risk or some of the climate effects of that. And China is investing in Brazil in their infrastructure. So we really-- it's just handing-- we're really pushing ourselves way down the list as being a reliable trading partner. And that's a concern. The concern is causing long-term damage. And look, the president, through his love of tariffs, he's betting the farm on that. But it's not his farm. It's the farmers' farm. And we're very concerned what's going to happen long-term if this stuff doesn't get settled. Another gut punch that's coming is in the reconciliation bill, the big bill that got passed last summer, the health care cost of private--

Right, right.

--insurance markets, subsidies going through Medicaid to the states, helping-- So Gary--

--helping farmers. And anybody on the individual marketplace is going to be faced with a huge increase in their insurance costs. I know Minnesota, they estimate insurance costs going up from 14% to 22% for individual policyholders. And that's going to hit hard.

So Gary-- Gary, let me ask you a question.

It's going to run the risk of going without insurance. They'd be forced to-- do they buy the insurance to protect their assets? Or do they try and save their money to--

So Gary--

--stay out of foreclosure with the bank--

Gary--

--or in some cases, even putting food on the table. So all this is, is lining-- it's not a perfect storm, but it's a storm brewing that's really going to be hitting hard.

Well--

We had the crisis in the farm in the '80s.

Hey, Gary, can you hear me?

--be significantly worse than the farm crisis that we experienced in the 1980s.

Gary, I don't know-- Gary, can you hear me?

I can. I can hear you barely.

OK, great. Sorry. So I just wanted to ask you a question before we wrap this up because this sounds like it's some real pain here for you and your fellow farmers. So where do you lay the blame at the current struggles and strife that you and your fellow farmers are facing? Because right now, you've got Republicans pointing fingers at Democrats. You've got Democrats pointing fingers at Republicans and the president. How do you see it, when you have politicians on both sides of the aisle arguing about who's responsible? In your mind and in the mind of your fellow farmers, where do you place the blame at?

Well, at this time, it's hard to put-- obviously, both sides are probably to a fault. But you got to get back to the-- put everything on the table and come back together and take the partisanship out of it. And right now, it does appear that the president is driving a lot of this. So hopefully, they get him back to the table. And I don't blame the Democrats for sticking up for the health care costs because that's a huge hit that's going to hit us, so. And I don't blame them for wanting to get this settled down and kicking it down the road, you know? Neither side can be trusted completely. So we have to get back together.

I sort of feel like that sentiment, that we, as a country, have to get back together, is probably expressed more commonly than we might believe, if you listen to the politicians in Washington, both sides, Democrat and Republican, who continue to point the finger at each other, and when you listen to folks like yourself who say, take the partisanship out of it. We just want to get back to work. We want to do what we need to do to keep our families fed and roofs over our heads. It's an important message. And I'm very, really happy that you were able to share it with us, although my heart breaks for what you and your fellow farmers are going through. Gary Wertish, President of the Minnesota Farmers' Union, thank you so much for joining us, sir. Be well.

Yep. Thank you.