Some Iowa farmers support Trump through trade war - Entrepreneur Generations

Though many farmers have criticized President Trump for his role in the trade war with China, some say they're sticking with him.

"In the wake of agricultural consolidation in recent decades, farmers aren’t nearly as large a group as they once were. But in heavily rural states like Iowa, which Mr. Trump won by almost 10 percentage points in 2016, they could still be an important voting bloc in 2020," John McCormick and Jesse Narnanjo report for The Wall Street Journal.

In Iowa, an agriculture powerhouse that holds the nation's first primary vote in February, several farmers at the state fair recently told WSJ reporters they appreciate what Trump is doing. Kevin Prevo, a fifth-generation farmer who raises corn, soybeans, cattle and hogs, told them "He's doing a good job and trying to make sure we're treated fairly," and said he plans to vote for Trump again in 2020. Another fifth-gen farmer, Leo Balk, said Trump is "doing the right thing . . . It hurts, but his concept is absolutely right."

"One of the reasons farmers are showing so much patience with Mr. Trump, even as commodity prices have suffered, is because his administration has provided tariff-related aid to farmers," McCormick and Naranjo report.

The support in Iowa is a stark contrast to a recent fair in Minnesota where farmers vented their frustrations during a listening session with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Not all of the dozen or so farmers the WSJ spoke to support Trump though. Dan Taylor said he didn't vote for Trump in 2016 and compared farmers to evangelical Christians who, he believes, support Trump though some of his actions run counter to their beliefs: "The ag sector is the same way . . .  They’ll still give him their loyalty, even though the trade war isn’t doing ag any good."

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, told the WSJ that he's glad to see Democratic candidates are trying harder to reach out to rural voters in this election, but cautions them not to conflate farmers and rural voters. "Some farmers, Mr. Vilsack said, are also starting to realize the trade situation wouldn’t be so dire if Mr. Trump had built a coalition and made it harder for the Chinese to target U.S. agriculture," McCormick and Naranjo report.

Regardless, many say they're willing to stick with Trump. Adam Nechanicky, who farms soybeans, corn and cattle, said he doesn't believe Trump is "out trying to hurt the farmers . . . A deal worth doing is not going to be easy. It’s going to take a little bit of pain to make it better."

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/33zhZDC Some Iowa farmers support Trump through trade war - Entrepreneur Generations

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