WEBVTT - A Fifth Generation Farmer on Trump’s $12B Bailout 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:07.200 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:13.040 Marty Richardson has been a farmer in northwest Missouri for years, 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:15.640 so many years in fact, that when we asked Marty 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.040 how long it's been, he had to think about it. 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:23.760 Oh, let's see, I'm seventy three, So if I started 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.120 when I was in high school, whatever, that has up 0:00:26.160 --> 0:00:29.960 to be sixty years fifty five. I lived in the 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:33.640 house I was born in, and so living on a farm, 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.839 my generational farm here, so I've been kind of farming 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:38.800 my whole life. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.960 This is a family business. Marty's sons are also farmers, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.239 sixth generation, so they've had a front row seat as 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:48.720 agriculture has evolved in recent decades. 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:51.000 Used to be in the hog business, but we got 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.960 out of that twenty years ago. And used to be 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:56.960 in the tobacco business, and we got out of that. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:01.400 These days, Marty's focus is on cattle and row crops, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.480 mostly corn and soybeans. 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:09.440 Well, I think the twenty five years we had excellent yields. 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.840 We had really good corn, really good beans. Of course, 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:14.679 the cattle markets an all time high. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.200 But there's a problem, and it's a big one, a 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.320 threat to his bottom line and thousands of other farmers. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.800 We're just losing our markets, and then we've lost that 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:30.440 China market, and combined with high input costs for seed, chemical, fertilizer, 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.240 and fuel, and a farmer can usually stand one or 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:37.000 the other, but when you get squeezed from both ends, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.600 it's almost impossible to make any money. 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:43.920 This week, the White House stepped in to help farmers 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:48.440 facing that two sided squeeze. On Monday, President Trump announced 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.960 a highly anticipated multi billion dollar relief package. 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:54.240 We're going to be giving and providing it to the 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.040 farmers in economic assistance. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:01:59.720 And we love our farmers, and. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.280 As you know, the farmers like me. That relief package 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.760 includes twelve billion dollars in payments money. The US Agriculture 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:11.359 Secretary of Brooke Rollins called a bridge aid meant to 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:13.640 help farmers during a difficult time. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.240 Trump has been saying for quite a while that you know, 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.600 he's going to help farmers. He's not going to leave 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:20.400 them hurting. 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.280 Aaron Aylworth covers agriculture for Bloomberg. She specializes in the 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.880 grain markets, and Aaron says, this relief package comes at 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:30.679 the end of what's been a painful year for many 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:32.160 US farmers, like Marty. 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:37.360 It's happening now in large part because farmers have been 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.960 struggling for a while, right, and that pressure has just 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:45.679 been mounting. And farmers are this key voting block for 0:02:46.000 --> 0:02:49.840 the president. They overwhelmingly supported him in the election and 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.320 for the Republican Party, and so with midterms looming, it's like, 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:56.919 do we want to leave one of our biggest voting bases, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.800 you know, in pain? And the answer to that, of 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:00.560 course versus no. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.320 I'm David Garrett and this is the big take from 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.880 Bloomberg News today on the show, US Agriculture at an 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.040 inflection point, the role farmers are playing in the US 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.840 China trade war, and how much of a difference that 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:21.600 twelve billion dollar farm bailout is likely to make. I 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.760 have a very basic question that is, at this moment, 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:26.640 at the end of twenty twenty five, how is the 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:28.280 American farmer doing? 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.200 Broadly speaking, they are hurting. I talked to a farmer yesterday, 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:35.800 a Rice farmer, and she was telling me that she's 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.440 been on the phone with a lot of other farmers 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:44.240 and those conversations, quite frankly, are tearful. People are worried 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.119 about their business, about their family farm, essentially about their 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:50.840 generation's old legacy. In a lot of cases, right, they 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.640 don't want to be the person to have to close 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:58.960 the door. And that has created a huge mental tool. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.520 And I imagine the into bankruptcy as well. It's low 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:02.400 large for load of these. 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.040 Farmers, that's right. Courtant data shows that Chapter twelve bankruptcies, 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:08.840 which are for farms, are on the rise, and they 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.160 have been for the last two quarters. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.320 Aaron says, there are a number of reasons why many 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:16.960 US farmers are going to bind this year. The big 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.240 one is costs are going up. 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.640 It seeds, it's fertilizer, its equipment, it's everything that you 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.039 need to put something in the ground, watch it grow 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.280 and then harvest it. So those prices are up, Commodity 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:34.599 prices are down, and then you tack on inflation, right, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.920 and everything is just topsy turvy. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:43.640 Farmer's income is also falling. According to the US Agriculture Department, 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.440 income from selling key crops, including wheat, corn, and soybeans, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:51.599 has declined since twenty twenty two. And of course, the 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:55.080 United States is ongoing trade war with China, which has 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.000 put a wedge between row crop farmers like Marty and 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.880 his biggest customer and put sky high tariffs on critical 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:07.200 inputs like machinery, fertilizer, and seeds. Could you describe the 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.799 challenges of this trade environment when it comes to farmers 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.120 with what the export environment looks like, and we hear 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.760 a lot about China not fulfilling its obligations when it 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.279 comes to purchasing soybeans. Can you describe the way that 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.640 this administration's trade policies have sort of reshaped the environment 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.159 for soybean farmers in specific. 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:29.520 So this actually goes back to Trump's first administration, right, 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:33.640 and a trade war in twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen, 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.520 and that trade war exacerbated a shift that China was 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:41.680 already trying to make where they're trying to diversify so 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:46.000 they're not as dependent on the US as a supplier, right, 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:52.760 And so they started buying more from Brazil, and US 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.960 farmers haven't really gotten that market share back. And so 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:02.640 now with this administration and the tariff policies again pushing 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:09.200 China to other suppliers, American farmers are losing out. They're 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:14.440 losing that market share again. And you saw in May 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:20.039 China stopped buying soybeans from the US, and that's a 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:27.159 huge deal because sowebeans are basically the US's biggest agricultural export, right, 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:33.039 and they go to China. You know, China uses soybeans 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:38.520 for it gets crushed into soybean meal for animal feed, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.720 mostly for pigs, and it gets used in soy oil, 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:43.800 that kind of thing. So it's a big product, and 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:49.000 so to not be moving US supply to them, it's 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.480 a big gap. It's a big loss of a customer. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.520 USDA data showed it between twenty twenty and twenty twenty four, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.159 China has committed to buying between thirteen and twenty eight 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.200 million metric tons of US soybeans each year. In twenty 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:08.120 twenty five, that number dropped to under half a million. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:13.000 And so they stopped buying in May, and that was 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:18.680 to essentially try and and gain leverage in these trade 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:24.120 talks with the Trump administration, and I think it largely worked, right. 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:29.239 They didn't buy in September when the new marketing year started, 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.600 and so September everybody's like waiting for these purchases and 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:37.160 they're like, oh no. Like the USDA data that comes out, 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.000 you just keep seeing zero zero zero. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.240 For Marty richardson the politics behind that business shift were clear. 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:48.520 I hate to say it like this, but he's just 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.320 kind of This country doesn't have a whole lot to 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:58.280 trade to other countries except food or agricultural products. So 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.560 sometimes in a trade deal we get held hostage the 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:05.840 American farmer because that's the only thing we got to 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:06.440 barter with. 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:11.720 Once Trump and she talked in late October, and you know, 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.040 the Trump administration said, okay, China has pledged to buy 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.280 these twelve million soybeans. 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:19.760 That's twelve million tons of soybeans. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:21.920 The market went nuts, and you saw a huge jump 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.200 in soybean prices, which has started to fade now because 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.160 China hasn't been buying at a fast paced They have 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.680 been buying, but they're still buying from Brazil, and so 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.280 Brazil and South America have become just a you know, 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:41.120 an increasingly bigger and bigger competitor. And the economists that 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.320 I talked to don't think that that's going to swing 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.680 back to the US, especially not immediately. 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:47.680 Neither does Marty Richardson. 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.920 I mean, what's odd to China coming back and buying 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.120 beings like they was three or four years ago, slimmed 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:58.800 to none because They've got that Brazil down there. They're 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.880 raising huge cross and I can't see fuel going down much, 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.679 fertilizer going down much, or seed going down much, or 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.640 john deer going down. I mean, that's called inflation. When 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:17.360 everything goes up, very few things go back down. And 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.640 corn and beans and wheat and rice and cotton have 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.560 not had that inflationary jump, but the rest of everything 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.120 else has had. You're just not going to see those 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.560 main four or five things that we buy to raise 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:37.079 a crop. You're not going to see those retreat much. 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.240 The relief package Trump announced on Monday is designed to 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.880 offset some of that lost business in the form of 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.080 one time payments, which will be parceled out to growers 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.800 of certain row crops, including soybeans, wheat, and sorghum, and 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:55.480 to growers of specialty crops like sugar. In a press release, 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.760 the administration said those payments are intended to help farmers 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:03.320 whether temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs, which 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.839 it says stem from Biden administration policies. It's aimed to 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:09.360 help them stay afloat until investments from the One Big 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.600 Beautiful Bill Act going to effect in late twenty twenty six. 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.439 Aaron says the administration has yet to release key details 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.480 of how the aid is going to be distributed. For instance, 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.480 what kind of relief is each crop going to qualify for. 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.520 That's the biggie. That's really what's going to tell you 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.600 who's getting the most help and who's not. So until 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.920 we have that number, we're a little bit in the dark. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.480 We know it's coming. The administration has said that they 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.480 expect to deliver all of the aid by the end 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:43.000 of February or before, so we will see, but we 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.079 are still waiting for a lot of those key details. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.440 There will be folks listening to this who are wondering 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.120 why farmers are getting this relief package. Of all the 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:58.120 constituents across this country who have been changing behavior, the 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.320 way they work, the way their business is oper rate 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.160 because of these trade policies, why are farmers being singled down? 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:06.760 What's your answer to that question. 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:11.240 I mean, one, they're such a huge, huge voter blood. 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:12.120 It's a political reason. 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:16.640 Ye, yes, it is a political reason. They are huge 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:22.400 supporters of this administration and a key voting base for Republicans. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.640 So I think that's a big piece of it. Another 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:30.000 piece of it is. You know, the egg industry is huge, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:36.120 and soybeans are the biggest US agricultural export, right, I mean, 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:40.200 it's it's big business. So I think those two things, 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.679 politics and business, power and. 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:53.240 Money coming up after the break the politics of US 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.000 agriculture now and historically, and what's at stake for the 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:10.280 industry if current trends aren't reversed. The trade war between 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:12.960 the US and China has posed a significant challenge for 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:17.240 US soybean farmers, but American agriculture has also been impacted 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.079 by changes the Trump administration has made to the federal 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.960 government itself and what it prioritizes. Bloomberg Agriculture reporter Aaron 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.800 Aylworth says the country's farming industry and its politics have 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:29.960 long been intertwined. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:35.199 Agriculture for the US is it's a huge source of 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.560 power and leverage. We had, you know, we've historically had 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.720 this thing called bread basket diplomacy, where we have been 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:49.920 able to send our surpluses to other countries either as 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.920 aid or we have withheld it as punishment, depending on 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.800 whether you're an ally or an enemy, right, And that 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:02.439 has been hugely politically helpful for a long time. That 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:07.040 has been fading away. And that's what I think we 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.720 are watching a piece of right now. Is is that 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:16.240 kind of shift where you know, we may have been 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:20.959 the top exporter of corn, soybean, and wheat for decades, 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:24.920 but are we today not so much? You know, we've 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.640 fallen down in those ranks a little bit. And that's 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.280 what we're watching in real time now. I mean every 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.400 day I start my morning going, is there a flash 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:38.680 sale of soybeans to China? Or did they buy from 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.160 Brazil and Argentina again? And that's exactly what the traders 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.679 that I'm talking to are watching too. Who's buying what 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.680 and where are they buying from, especially if it's not 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:48.720 the US. 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.000 I want to stick with this because you're kind of 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.079 indicating that US agriculture played this role in buffeting or 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:58.360 enhancing the us is ability to project soft power around 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:03.000 the world. We tend to focus on the business side 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.560 of this, the commercial relationship, But how big a deal 0:14:05.679 --> 0:14:07.760 was that when you look at the agriculture industry broadly, 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:10.199 the way that it kind of dovetailed with or complemented 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.160 kind of larger diplomatic or geo of political ambitions the 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:13.720 US had. 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:15.960 Well, I mean you look at what we did with 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.400 our European allies in fighting Germany, right, and at one 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:24.440 point getting them food supplies, agricultural supplies was just as 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.240 important as getting them weapons. I think that's a big 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:32.080 example these days. You know, the US has been known 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.360 for sending so much food aid around the world through 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.720 the UN and other programs. You know, is that changing 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:44.360 with this new administration of these policies. Yes, right, So 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.000 I think that's that's in part how China was able 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:54.520 to weaponize soweebeans, if you will, because they know that 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:57.120 it's a big business and a big part of our 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:02.360 i think global identity to be this food supplier, and 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.119 so by taking that business away and shifting it elsewhere, 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:10.080 they had the ability to say, we're not just going 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:13.360 to swallow this terraf for this policy that you're trying 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:14.520 to force on us. US. 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.800 I think there's the old line that farmers have to 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:20.800 be optimist by nature all of the difficulties they face, 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.400 which makes me wonder when you look at the agriculture 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.520 environment today, what is giving them reasons to be hopeful 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:28.800 about the industry. 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.400 Yeah, they are hopeful for new markets, right, I mean 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.360 I talk to farmers almost every day at this point, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.840 and they're saying, like, listen, the tariffs are hurting us, 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.440 but at least somebody is negotiating. They have felt like 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:48.280 they haven't had the best deal in the past, that 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:53.720 they weren't necessarily getting the fair prices that their crops 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:58.440 should and so now they see somebody at least trying 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:02.400 to open conversation and get it new markets. Now is 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:06.320 that working? You know, depends on who you ask. The 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.360 administration has touted a number of deals that have come through, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.160 but some market watchers will point out how many of 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:16.960 those actually have like a written, signed deal behind it. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.680 That's one of the key things that we're waiting for 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:23.520 with China is like everyone's like, okay, we have a pledge, 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:28.080 a commitment. Where's the signed piece of paper that lays 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.960 out exactly what the commitment is and what the rules 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.960 are basically. And until we have that, do we actually 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:37.200 have a deal? Big question. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:43.480 What's at stake for the US if the agriculture industry 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.000 succeeds or fails. So it's under all of these constraints, 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.320 it's a very difficult period. How should we think about 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:53.600 its importance broadly to the health of this country? 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.280 To the US. You know, before I started this speed, 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:06.200 I didn't realize just how many things agricultural products are in. Right, 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:07.760 It's not just the. 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:08.360 Food we eat. 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:12.480 It's some of the stuff that's in near gasoline at 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.800 the gas station. It could eventually be used to fly 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:20.200 your airplanes. Right, it's going into your dog food, it's 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:25.920 feeding the cattle. It's this massive business ecosystem. And if 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:28.959 that fails, if that big of an industry fails in 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.640 the US, I think we've got a real problem. 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.840 Marty Richardson in Missouri isn't optimistic that farmers like him 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.560 will ever see Chinese soybean purchases return to where they 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.800 were before the trade war, or that the Trump administration's 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:45.720 farm bailout will make much of a difference for farmers. 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.840 This bridge that are given us, or this hand out 0:17:49.880 --> 0:17:53.719 some people call it, or welfare, some people call it. 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.680 It's really not even a band aid. Let me use 0:17:56.720 --> 0:18:00.399 this analogy. Your short two hundred dollars in your banking camp, 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:05.280 and I give you thirty bucks. Yeah, that's going to help, 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.520 but not really so. And I'm not saying he should 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.240 have give everything we lost, Don't get me wrong there, 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.760 but I can't see it's going to do anything. 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.520 He told our producer David Fox that finding new markets, 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.800 both foreign and domestic, is critical for the next generation 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.280 of US farmers. But for the moment, he says, it 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.119 looks like there's a long road to ho. 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:32.080 I got a grandson, and the way the world is now, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.480 I'd love to see him farm. But he's only ten, 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.200 so in ten years it's no different. I might tell 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.679 him maybe he needs to do something different. He's going 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.520 to be in the NBA, he told me so. 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:45.760 I doubt it, but well, at least he's got a 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:46.320 backup plan. 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:48.400 There you go, There you go. 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:56.679 This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm David Gerry. 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.280 To get more from The Big Take and unlimited access 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:01.840 to all of the Bloomberg dot Com, subscribe today at 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:06.120 Bloomberg dot com slash podcast offer. If you liked this episode, 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.240 make sure to follow and review The Big Take wherever 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.640 you listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show. 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.040 Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.