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Exceptional springtime floods, trade war, lower corn and soybean prices, times are tough for US farmers, and there is no guarantee that the huge Chinese market, which guarantees wide market opportunities for their products, is back again. quickly accessible. To compensate in part for the losses of their farms, the White House has granted a budget of 28 billion aid to farmers spread over two years. But the profession, generally favorable to Donald Trump, begins to question the president's policy. Reportage.
From our correspondent in the United States,
The National Farmers Union , a farmers' union close to the Democratic Party, is holding its district meeting in the back room of a Byron bar in southern Minnesota. Above their well-stocked plates (thick slices of ham, corn and mashed potatoes, all guaranteed made in Minnesota), the farmers' mines are serious. " We are in a very dangerous situation right now. We are on the edge of the abyss and the president is rushing us. His policy is really devastating, "says Gary Wertish, union president in Minnesota, adding," Donald Trump is constantly being said to be winning, but in the field farmers are losing . Even the operators who support it are starting to lose patience. Harold Willie, who works near Byron, adds, " I know a number of people who voted for Donald Trump, and who do not like the way this administration is leading the trade war. Offsets provided by the federal government help us, but this is not a long-term strategy. We want to trade, not be helped ! In the 2016 election, farmers overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump, but in this part of the Midwest hit hard by falling prices of agricultural products, support for the president's policy is starting to erode .
" Things are degrading, and they are degrading quickly "
At the Minnesota Corn Producers' Office near Minneapolis, Brian Thalmann, who heads the association, confirms the bad patch for producers, particularly affected by the drop in demand for ethanol, made from corn. " Politics does not help us. Things are deteriorating and they are deteriorating rapidly, "he says before explaining:" 40% of US corn production is for ethanol production. The Renewable Energy Regulation provided for the introduction of nearly fifty-seven billion liters of ethanol into the gasoline distribution system, but since the arrival of Donald Trump in power, the administration has continued to distribute exemptions to refineries. As a result, the price of ethanol has dropped and our corn is losing an essential market . Eighty-five refineries have been allowed to bypass the law since Donald Trump came to power, including thirty-one in August alone. According to the national farmers' union, this corresponds to a loss of fifteen billion liters of ethanol. The American producers also hoped to profit from the expansion of the Chinese market because of the trade war, but this one is for the moment inaccessible to them, and the Chinese turn to other countries to stock up. "The more the negotiation gets bogged down, the less chance we will have of recovering these market shares, " says Brian Thalmann.
The director of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association , Joe Smentek shares the same concern. " We can not wait for this trade war to end. We were targeted by the retaliatory measures of Beijing because we were exporting massively to China, we are being tortured. We are exploring new opportunities, but it will take time to develop them. Really, if the commercial battle does not end soon, we will start seeing farms disappear. Before the outbreak of hostilities between Washington and Beijing, China was buying nearly a quarter of US soybean production.
A multitude of difficulties
All around Mankato, corn and soybean fields follow one another, in a green monotony. Due to heavy rains in the spring, the seeds were late and harvesting is slow. At the back of his barn, Warren Crown transshines his corn in a truck, and pleads against the exemptions granted to the refineries. " The oil industry has always made good money, I do not think they needed that boost. We invested in the ethanol industry because we were guaranteed this opportunity, and now they are depriving us of it! It's not a good way to govern. The operator may suffer from the policy of the federal administration, he assumes his vote in favor of Donald Trump and continues to support the president, including in the trade war against China. " I know it's going to cost us a lot, but that's the best thing for America. If we do not do anything, China will get our hands on our Internet, our phones ... It's a technological war, but if we do not deal with the problem now, I think we will come to arms. And I do not want to see that. "
A few miles away, Trish and Brian Rumstall, hope to save their small farm, on the verge of bankruptcy. Their health is fragile: Brian is diabetic and Trish is in remission of cancer. " Prices do not allow us to run our farm. Health costs take up so much of our income that we have nothing left for our operation, "says Trish. " In the 1980s we had an exceptionally difficult time, but our health coverage was not so astronomically high. Instead of improving the Obama Health Insurance Act, the Republicans did everything they could to destroy it, and the costs exploded ! Says Brian, who spent $ 41,000 last year on health costs for his family. Trish makes her husband promise not to rattle too hard on the president, but Brian is struggling to hide his hostility to Donald Trump. " It's hard to talk about it. Many of our farmer neighbors support it, but less openly than before. They begin to realize that he does not care about the American people at all, "he says. " Some of our neighbors have left their farm and have returned to work in the city with an employer just to get health insurance, " his wife complains, " the low price of our agricultural products is the biggest problem, but we are facing a multitude of difficulties that accumulate all at the same time. "
A psychologist for depressed farmers
The phone rings continuously at Ted Matthews' . A psychologist based in Hutchinson, he travels Minnesota at the expense of the taxpayer to help farmers face their difficulties. The state, which has been subsidizing its work for almost twenty years, has just voted to fund a second position to help it cope with demand. " Farmers can call me and talk to me for ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, and it's free. On very calm days, I receive ten calls. And on busy days I get twenty or twenty-five, they call me even on Sunday ! I will see them at home, sometimes in an emergency, when there is a threat of suicide, "says the septuagenarian, relieved to know that he will soon be seconded. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate among farmers is 1.5 times higher than in all other professions. And it keeps increasing. " The times are really hard and farmers are isolated, they do not know who to talk to, " says the psychologist, " they grew up on their farm, often passed from generation to generation, and when it sinks, they have the feeling betrayed all their family lineage. For them it's unbearable! The mobile phone rings, it is a dairy farmer in great difficulty. " I do not usually talk about my problems, but Ted does a good job, he can listen and it feels good," he says . Just across from Ted Matthews' office, a bank, Mid-Country Bank, specializes in loans to farmers. " We have organized a lot of debt rescheduling operations over the last three years : we are adding the losses of the year to outstanding debts, and we are extending the loans over twenty years to try to reduce the repayments " explains Kelly Winter. According to farm office statistics , bankruptcies in farms are on the rise across the country: " The problem today is that some of our farmers have already rescheduled their debts, and are facing further losses. In this case, we have no option. Some have given up, others have been forced to give up, "says Hutchinson's banker, who concludes:" We can not continue to finance operations that will not be profitable, it would not be of service to them. " . "
A firm factory
In the south of the state, the Corn Plus ethanol plant, Winnebago's second largest employer, a community of 1,300, has just closed. The streets of the small town are deserted, only the flashing lights of the food store let guess an ounce of animation in the heart of the afternoon. " Thirty-seven jobs have disappeared, and this has had an immediate impact on the activity, " says Jacob Skluzacek, Municipal Administrator, who says, " Corn Plus is connected to our sewer system and pays twenty thousand dollars a month. for this service : its closure will also have a major impact on the finances of the city . " The operation of Dough Jenkins is right in front of the deserted factory. He raises five thousand pigs, grows corn to feed them, but resells the surplus of his production to Corn Plus " I have shares in the company, I will lose them. I would have liked the plant to continue turning, "he sighs. Still, Dough remains a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. " I hope he will be re-elected, we need another four years, make his greatness to America requires a lot of work, I trust him, " he says. Dough carefully watches his sows, ready to give birth, he has gathered in an outdoor enclosure a few hundred animals destined for slaughter. " Pork prices have not yet been too much affected by the trade war, " he says, " and anyway, in agriculture, you have to accept the ups and downs. We are at the mercy of the will of God. A police car enters the farm. To ensure the survival of his operation, Dough added the towing of damaged cars to his agricultural activities, and the officers come to see the damage on a winched vehicle that morning. " To have several strings to his bow is the best way to survive the uncertainties of the market " philosopher the farmer, before reiterating his trust in Donald Trump: " Without him, communism would gain ground in this country " assured there.
Along the road to Marshall, the grain silos punctuate the monotony of the landscape, fields as far as the eye can see. Don Delangh welcomes us wearing a cap "Trump 2020". The interior of his huge hangar is decorated with posters of the 2016 campaign. " If he was not there, the country would be ruined ! Thank God for Trump, I pray for him every day, "he says with a smile. Like Dough, Don Delangh welcomes the commercial storm sown by the White House, even if it suffers the damage. " The Chinese are tough on business, but I do not think we could find anyone better than Donald Trump to negotiate. He knows how to do business, he knows how to make money, he's smart, "he says before adding" Democratic side, there is not one with whom I would do business, or even with whom I would go fishing ... "Between the two front seats of his small all-terrain car, Don has a semi-automatic AR15 rifle, a weapon of war that some Democrats want to ban. He uses it regularly, he explains, to kill polecats, raccoons or rabbits who are trying to steal his corn. " Unlike the Democrats, the President does not want to deprive me of my weapon, " Don smiles, " and he has the wisdom to get rid of a bunch of stupid regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency was out of control, it gave us back our freedom . Since his arrival at the White House, Donald Trump has continued to dismantle the regulations put in place by the previous administration to protect the environment. The revocation of a watercourse protection measure, announced in early September, was particularly applauded by farmers. " It's refreshing to see someone who gets things done, who does what he says instead of saying what people want to hear, " says Delangh. Like all his neighbors, the farmer has lost money this year, but he has a message for the president, whom he dreams of meeting: " I would like Donald Trump to know that despite the difficulties, there are farmers happy in Minnesota ".