Agriculture is fraught with risks. The growth of the growing foods has always been subject to unexpected weather conditions, price transformations, and The spread of the disease. As of last week, farmers in the United States now have to face the second definitions of the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, March 4, President Donald Trump imposed A 25 percent tariff for all goods Imported from Canada and Mexico, as well as a 10 percent tariff on goods from China. The news carries great effects on farmers who depend on the potash plant nutrients, which the United States imports almost exclusively from Canada.
But after two days, amid chaos in the stock market and criticism from business leaders, Trump I exempt some goods from the tax And reduce the tariff on the unparalleled potash from 25 percent to 10 percent. Trump Minister of Agriculture, Brock Rollins, He praised the low tax On Potash as “a critical step in helping farmers to manage and secure the costs of the main inputs at the height of the agricultural season while strengthening long -term agricultural trade relations.” Although this step was supposed to be reconciliation, agricultural and economic farmers and researchers say that fertilizer taxes in any case will not only increase the costs of American farmers, but may also lead to a decrease in US soil health.
Most of the commercial fertilizers have a mixture of three essential nutrients for plants: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. The potash refers to the bomb potassium compounds that are included in traditional fertilizers. Estimates differ, but the vast majority of potash used in the United States – At least 85 percent – It comes from Canada.
Stephen Wood, a great scientist in the field of agriculture and diets in Nature Conservance, a non -profitable eclons that focuses on land and water, is a great world of agricultural and food systems in Nature Conservance, a non -profitable environmental organization that focuses on land and water. This includes tomatoes, melons, grapes, peaches and strawberries. It is important to the development of corn and soybeans, which represent nearly two -thirds Farms service agency data available.
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In the United States, the atom uses more than 2 million tons of potash per year, according to Data from economic resource servicePart of the US Department of Agriculture. This is about half a million tons more than the amount of potash used by soybeans crops (about 1.6 million tons), and more cotton and wheat crops (historically, less than half a million tons). This means that corn farmers are likely to be more difficult by tariffing on the potash.
“I think we will see some farmers think,” said Silvia Cichi, professor of agricultural economics at Iowa University. ”
In response to the original version of the definitions, Kenneth Hartmann Junior, President of the National Corn Farmers Association, He invited the president to reach a commercial deal It would balance national security needs with farmers’ needs. In February, Senator Chuck Grassley Books on xPreviously Twitter, “I am asking [with] President Trump to exempt the potash from the tariff. “Grassley Aiwa, which is It produces more corn From any other country in the country.
SECCHI suspected that it will be difficult to measure the exact economic effect that the potash tariff will achieve on farmers because it was mixed in fertilizers in different quantities and some crops need more than others. The corn farms in Iowa said that the customs tariff will harm all types of farmers, given that the potash is the main nutrient of all plants. 10 percent [tariff] On Potash is not good for AG or for cultivation, as it adds other expenses to the already high input costs.
Other farmers agreed. “It seems to me that Trump is ignorant of agricultural policy and how food is produced in this country.”
It is also possible that farmers in order to reach fertilizers have more expensive for access to fertilizers a negative effect on the health of the soil, which in turn can determine whether the soil stores carbon or releases it in the atmosphere. Research shows this Potassium plays a role in helping crops to become more flexible against diseases. Gillingham worries that if farmers try to “cry” on the potash, they may try to compensate by using fungicides and additional pesticides, which can kill microbes that keep the soil healthy.
These pest killers are not a substitute for plants that get all the nutrients they need, but they may help farmers to continue their crop yield. “If the customs tariffs are obliged,” said farmers to use ideal fertilizers or drain the health of soil over time, “said Marc Shonsbick, a senior researcher at the Organic Agricultural Research Foundation, by e -mail.
Heimisath did not agree that farmers would be more likely to use pesticides, which he said “will not help replace potash or any fertilizer.” But he added that if the definitions are still valid next year, many corn farmers will have to decide whether to do with less fertilizers or simply to eat the cost of the highest potash.
Another possibility is that corn farmers adopt environmentally friendly agricultural practices to reduce their need for potash. Michael Hab, the assistant program for climate societies and rural societies at the Institute of Agricultural Trade Policy, said he heard from major commodity farmers who are interested in learning about renewal agriculture. In general, advocates of renewal agriculture advise farmers to abandon commercial fertilizers and turn to the use of fertilizer or animal compost to maintain crop health. Other renewable techniques-such as agriculture without dysfunction, rotation of crops, or the use of cover crops- Help the carbon and other plant foodstuffs stay on Earth.
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But the high prices on potash comes at a time when the Trump administration makes it difficult for farmers to switch to membership – by erasing the US Department of Agriculture’s web pages that contain information on how to access funding and technical support for these transformations. Last month, Gillingham and two environmental groups Filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture for the purification of this data.
“He takes away information, takes away funding and support for not having to rely on potash imports, and then raises the price of imports,” Gillingham said. “There is a paradox.”
Hab, from the Agricultural Trade Policy Institute, said that Trump’s attacks on federal workers also affected farmers. The US Department of Agriculture launched approximately 6000 employees under observation last month, although the agency has been ordered since then Return the expired workers For at least 45 days. The Trump administration is also looking to close 59 local offices From the National Agency for Resources Conservation and Farms Service-a two sub-accommodation of the US Department of Agriculture provides technical and financial assistance to farmers-according to AGDAIY agricultural deployment.
“This is the time when we need a lot of experience and employees of the local national resource preservation,” said Hab. “The fact that many local US Department of Agriculture employees are expelled, and many local offices are closed, and this is happening in the specified time.”
Wood, from Nature Conservance, noted that farmers on a large scale may be the best in the tariffs related to weather and the loss of the US Department of Agriculture, because they tend to get more capital. But Colin Carter, Agricultural Economist at the University of California, Davis, said in general, will likely make Trump’s recent policies more difficult for farms of all sizes.
“It will be more difficult for small farms, family farms, organic farms and great farmers,” Carter said. “It is only in all areas. I don’t see any winners here.”
