DAVIDSONVILLE, Md. — Maryland Farm Bureau, on behalf of its 26,000 members, submitted a letter to President Trump, urging a speedy resolution to current trade discussions.
“Maryland farmers are suffering from low prices and extreme market volatility for virtually all agricultural commodities and products,” Maryland Farm Bureau President Chuck Fry said in the letter. “Maryland’s dairy farmers are going out of business at a rate of 30 farms per year. We are down to 356 dairy operations, with many families discussing whether they can make it another year.”
Letters from Farm Bureaus across the country were given to the president, just prior to the announcement of a $16 billion agricultural relief package. The assistance package is welcome news to an industry that has been struggling to hold on through the trade disputes.
“The Trump Administration’s agricultural assistance package is welcome relief to an economic sector that has been battered by foreign competitors and retaliatory tariffs. We thank the President for living up to his commitment to stand by our farmers and ranchers,” said American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall, who delivered the Farm Bureau letters to the president.
“We are grateful for the work that President Trump and Secretary Perdue have devoted to this issue. However, the real, long-term solution to our challenges in agriculture is good outcomes to current negotiations with China, Japan and the European Union, as well as congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. America’s farmers and ranchers need fair and open access to markets,” Duvall said.
Chinese tariffs on beef and pork have flooded the U.S. market with protein, lowering the demand for Maryland poultry and leading to lower income to farmers across the eastern shore.
Maryland grain producers grow 1 million acres of corn and soybeans each year. Most were not impacted at the onset of the trade dispute. Many agreed the long-term benefits of better trade agreements with China and other countries was desirable. However, now as new contracts are being sought and stockpiled product is being marketed, growers are hurting.
“Maryland farmers are counting on you to put the trade fires out and work to prevent new ones from starting,” Fry wrote to President Trump. “Retaliatory tariffs and missed market opportunities are costing U.S. agricultural export markets — both in the short-term and, we fear, in years to come.”
An end to the trade war and the implementation of new agreements has the potential to increase cash receipts in Maryland by $43 million and net exports by $19 million, along with adding at least 150 jobs to the economy.
— Maryland Farm Bureau