Trade War Will Have Direct Impact On Wheat Growers

Many Northwest commodities will be impacted if China implements the tariffs they’ve threatened against U.S. agriculture.  Northwest beef, apples, tree nuts and also wheat.  Michelle Hennings, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers says these tariffs, set to start in early July, could not have come at a worse time.  She says they’ve been working on China as an emerging market.

“So, last year, we had 312,600 metric tons or U.S. soft white wheat exported to China, and that equals 11.4 million bushels.  Prior to that, we’ve almost nearly doubled in size what we’re sending over to China.”

Hennings says the concern is that with tariffs on American products, Canada and Australia will move in and establish contracts hurting U.S. growers for years to come.

Hennings acknowledged they are working on other emerging markets, which might be able to absorb the loss of China if this trade war is prolonged.  She said this highlights the importance of the Farm Bill, especially when it comes to new or expanding markets for American goods.

“There’s some money in Farm Bill, it’s call FMD and MAP funding, Market Access Program funding, and that’s very important to agriculture, because they take that money and start to develop our markets, so right there is a reason why we need to be very pro Farm Bill.”

Hennings added the trade issues with China make multilateral deals like TPP even more important for the long-term health of Northwest wheat growers.

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