农业企业奥兰·奥莱克的首席执行官警告称，唐纳德·特朗普总统的贸易战加剧了其核心地区农村面临的动荡，并使许多土地所有者面临失去农场的风险。
作为中国最大的农民和零售会员合作社之一的首席执行官，贝丝·福特代表了数以千计的土地所有者和农业生产者，她说，由于中国的关税和创纪录的春季洪水，他们遭受了损失。
美国农民支持特朗普与日本的交易，但这就足够了吗?
福特说不利的天气和与中国针锋相对的关税切断了大豆市场这意味着玉米现在以每蒲式耳9美元的价格比正常价格低10%以上。
“价格很低。这意味着许多农民正在赔钱，”福特告诉记者'哥伦比亚广播公司'60分钟。
“更多的挫折出现了，因为许多人将失去他们的生意。他们将失去世代以来在家庭中拥有的农场。”
在该出版物的一篇热情洋溢的社论中Dairybusiness.com今年6月，标题为“农民处于危机中，美国没有给予关注”的福特概述了商品价格持续走低现在意味着2017年的平均农场收入为43，000美元，2018年的平均农场收入为负1，500美元。这将美国中西部出售一半农产品的农业州的破产推到了十年来的最高水平。
福特告诉记者:“我认为这个国家过去有92，000家乳制品生产商，现在是最后一家——我看到的数量是50，000家，所以减少了40%。”60分钟。
下图由提供Statista，说明了2018年美国农产品在中国的市场规模。
按国家分列的美国农产品出口值。STATISTA
特朗普本人对哥伦比亚广播公司的报告做出回应，坚称农民得到补贴以弥补贸易逆差，并把责任推给了北京。
他在推特上写道:“60分钟‘忘记’报告说，我们正在帮助美国伟大的农民，在过去的两年里，我们用中国支付给美国的针对农民的关税支付了280亿美元。他们让货币贬值，因此付出了代价!”
。@ 60分钟“忘记”报告说，在过去的两年里，我们帮助了美国伟大的农民达280亿美元，这是中国向美国支付的针对农民的关税中的一部分。他们让货币贬值，因此付出了代价!
——唐纳德·特朗普2019年10月6日
然而，明尼苏达州农民联盟等组织坚持认为补贴不能弥补损失。爱荷华州大豆协会主席，Lindsay Greiner5月份说补助金“对贸易来说不是一个好办法”
路透社报道，周五，特朗普政府表示，随着宣布明年炼油商必须向其燃料中添加乙醇的数量将有所增加，这将提振大豆生产商。
强大的玉米游说团体对特朗普政府给予炼油厂的乙醇豁免感到不满，他们说这削弱了对其产品的需求。
贝丝·福特于2018年10月2日在加利福尼亚州拉古纳·尼格尔丽思卡尔顿酒店举行的2018年财富最强大女性峰会上发表演讲。她谈到了唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的农村地区面临的问题。
TRUMP TRADE WAR: FARMERS ARE GOING TO 'LOSE FARMS THAT THEY'VE HAD IN THEIR FAMILIES FOR GENERATIONS,' SAYS LAND O'LAKES CEO
President Donald Trump's trade wars are contributing to the turmoil faced by the rural sector of his heartland and are putting many landowners at risk of losing their farms, the CEO of the agricultural conglomerate Land O'Lakes has warned.
As CEO of one of the country's largest farmer and retail-member-owned cooperatives, Beth Ford represents thousands of landowners and agricultural producers whom she says have suffered due to a combination of Chinese tariffs and record-setting floods in spring.
U.S. Farmers Back Trump Deal With Japan But Is It Enough?
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Ford said the adverse weather and the tit-for-tat tariffs with Chinawhich have cut it off as a market for soybeans, means that corn is now selling more than 10 percent less than normal at $9 a bushel.
"That's a very low price. That means many farmers are losing money," Ford toldCBS'60 Minutes.
"More frustration is present because a number of people are going to lose their businesses. They're gonna lose farms that they've had in their families for generations."
In an impassioned editorial in the publicationDairybusiness.comin June, headlined "Farmers are in crisis and America isn't paying attention," Ford outlined how sustained low commodity prices now meant that the average farm income in 2017 was $43,000, and that the median farm income for 2018 was minus $1,500. This had pushed bankruptcies in the farm states across the Midwest, which sell half of U.S farm products, to the highest level in a decade.
"I think there used to be 92,000 dairy producers in the country and now the last—the number I saw was in the 50,000 level, so 40% reduction," Ford told60 Minutes.
The graphic below, provided byStatista, illustrates the size of the market in China for U.S. agriculture products in 2018.
Value of exports of U.S. agriculture products by country.STATISTA
Trump himself reacted to the CBS report by insisting that farmers were getting subsidized to make up for the trade shortfalls, and also levelled the blame at Beijing.
He tweeted: "60Minutes 'forgot' to report that we are helping the great farmers of the USA to the tune of 28 Billion Dollars, for the last two years, paid for out of Tariffs paid to the United States by China for targeting the farmer. They devalued their currency, therefore paying the cost!"
.@60Minutes“forgot†to report that we are helping the great farmers of the USA to the tune of 28 Billion Dollars, for the last two years, paid for out of Tariffs paid to the United States by China for targeting the farmer. They devalued their currency, therefore paying the cost!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)October 6, 2019
However, groups such as the Minnesota Farmers Union have maintained that the subsidies do not cover the losses. Iowa Soybean Association president,Lindsay Greinersaid in May that subventions "are a poor remedy for trade."
On Friday, theTrump administration said there would be a boost to soybean producers with the announcement that there would be an as yet undecided increase in the amount of ethanol that oil refiners must add to their fuel next year, Reuters reported.
The powerful corn lobby had been unhappy at ethanol exemptions the Trump administration had given to oil refineries which they said undercut demand for their product.
Beth Ford speaks onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit 2018 at Ritz Carlton Hotel on October 2, 2018 in Laguna Niguel, California. She has spoken about the problems faced by the rural sector under President Donald Trump.
