“Iowa Farmers United by Commonsense” Spotlight Struggling Iowa Agriculture as Ashley Hinson Fails to Help
WHBF: “Iowa Farmers Are Raising Concern for What Some State Lawmakers Are Calling an Agriculture Economy Downturn”
Lance Lillibridge, Iowa Farmer: “Farmers Are in a Bad Spot”
Seth Watkins, Iowa Farmers United by Commonsense Member: “I Don’t Think People Are Quite Putting Together the Impact That Fossil Fuel is Going to Have at the Farm Yet”
DES MOINES – The newly formed Iowa Farmers United by Commonsense group is highlighting the struggles facing Iowa agriculture with the war in Iran jacking up the cost of fertilizer and diesel. Meanwhile, Ashley Hinson has failed to stop the pain Iowa farmers are experiencing as she keeps taking votes in Congress that are making their lives worse.
“Ashley Hinson has no answer for the challenges Iowa farmers are facing because she’s the one who created this mess by voting to continue the war in Iran and keep in place costly tariffs,” said Iowa Democratic Party spokesperson Drew Myers. “In the six years she’s been in Congress, her failing record has exacerbated Iowa agriculture’s downward spiral. Iowa Farmers United by Commonsense know that the only way to turn things around is to vote for new leadership this November that will put Iowa ahead of politics.”
WHBF: Efforts continue to address Iowa farmers’ demands
- Iowa farmers are raising concern for what some state lawmakers are calling an agriculture economy downturn. A timely issue for farmers revolves around their access to fertilizer supplies. Nitrogen is a key import for fertilizer.
- John Whitaker is a Henry County farmer who says agriculture policy is “pragmatic” and bipartisan.
- “Farmers never did like to get money from the mailbox, they want money from the market. We want markets to function, and they’re not functioning at this point,” said Whitaker. “In these world markets when nitrogen goes up, coming through the middle east, the nitrogen in the United States goes up. And this is the time when we’re going into the growing season when crops need nitrogen. They use nitrogen to produce the protein within the plant, which then produces the protein that we consume.”
- He and a dozen other Iowa farmers recently formed a group called ‘Iowa Farmers United by Common Sense. […] Whitaker says they want to raise awareness on some of the challenges farmers are facing – and are “demanding change from the policies out of Washington D.C.,” a news release says.
Roll Call: Iowa Democrats pursue ‘once in a generation opportunity’ amid farmer woes
- Also like most farmers in recent years, Watkins has felt an undeniable economic squeeze, and the problem has only been exacerbated by policy decisions coming from the White House, including on tariffs and wars abroad.
- It’s those policies that are also making Iowa increasingly competitive politically ahead of November’s midterm elections.
- “I’m not sure the noise is loud enough on the frustration with tariffs, and I don’t think people are quite putting together the impact that fossil fuel is going to have at the farm yet,” Watkins said in an interview. He’s part of the Iowa Farmers United by Commonsense, a new Democrat-affiliated farmers group.
- “I especially look at the soybean markets just being decimated with the swipe of a pen by our president and tariffs,” he said. “I think there was a lot of feeling that people really genuinely felt that trade was unfair and we all needed to do our part to make things right.”
- “The chemicals that farmers use are derived from fossil fuel. If the price of fossil fuel is effectively doubled, all these things are going to double,” Watkins said. “We’ve coupled it with making adversaries of some of our greatest trading partners, which has totally destabilized the price of grain.”
Quad-City Times: Iowa farmers were already struggling with fertilizer prices. The war made them worse
- Iowa farmers are grappling with increasing input prices and uncertainty in global markets during this spring’s planting season, as already high production costs are exacerbated by conflict in the Middle East.
- Lance Lillibridge, of Vinton, who grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa, said farmers are having to make difficult decisions this planting season between racking up debt or risking a smaller yield by using less fertilizer.
- “Farmers are in a bad spot,” Lillibridge said. “If you bought fertilizer last fall, you paid too much for it, and if you bought fertilizer now, you definitely paid way too much for it.”
- Lillibridge has seen his nitrogen fertilizer prices increase roughly 80% over the last five years, going from $490 per ton in 2021 to $890 per ton this February.
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