“The Jobs Are Gone” March 2018
The big headlines about tariffs cause everyone in agri-business to fear that foreign countries who buy so much of American ag production will impose tariffs on us in retaliation.
Trent is concerned about corn and soybean prices being driven lower by the impact of foreign tariffs on U.S. export sales. “After all,” Trent says, “the jobs are gone already and tariffs won’t bring them back.” Trent hopes there is not a repeat of the notorious Carter grain embargo of the late 1970s which drove so much soybean production to South America.
Trent watches the weather as the planting season approaches. “It’s still a little dry,” Trent commented. The recent heavy rains did raise surface soil moisture, but Trent doesn’t think the abnormally dry conditions of the early winter have been eliminated yet. Trent thinks it’s not too wet to plant right now, “but we still have April coming.” Trent noted that the spring season “seems a little early” this year.
More from The Field Report
Wild And Windy Winter Weekend
Trent Brandenburg and family endured a near miss yesterday as a tornado touched down a few miles from their home place. Tornadoes are a rare occurrence in December, but a "bomb cyclone" ripped through central Illinois yesterday. Houses were unroofed [...]
Dry Weather Speeds Harvest
Trent Brandenburg is trying to get his field work done "before it rains". Much of the area Trent farms is in "extreme drought" according to the Illinois Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IL map, which is updated every Thursday. The very dry soil [...]
In a Drought, but Corn is Too Wet to Harvest
The current Illinois drought map (11 September) shows severe drought in the northern 40% of Piatt County and moderate drought in the rest of Piatt and adjacent areas of neighboring counties. Trent Brandenburg has barely started harvesting because his corn [...]