Oh Well!! Chuck Grassley - "I Plead" W. Trump To Dump 10% Tariff On Canadian Potash
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In response to the original version of the tariffs, Kenneth Hartman Jr., the president of the National Corn Growers Association, called on the president to reach a trade deal that would balance national security needs with the needs of farmers. In February, Senator Chuck Grassley wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “I plead [with] President Trump to exempt potash from the tariff.” Grassley represents Iowa, which produces more corn than any other state in the country.
Secchi suspects that it will be hard to measure the exact economic impact that the potash tariff will have on farmers because it is mixed into fertilizers in varying amounts and some crops need it more than others. Bob Hemesath, an Iowa corn grower, said the tariff will hurt all sorts of farmers, given that potash is a key nutrient for all plants. “The 10 percent [tariff] on potash is not good for the ag space or for farming, because it just adds another expense to our already high input costs,” said Hemesath, who is also a board member of the National Corn Growers Association, a trade group. Other farmers agreed. “It certainly seems to me that Trump is clueless about agricultural policy and how food is produced in this country,” said Wes Gillingham, board president of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York.
It’s also possible that making it more expensive for U.S. farmers to access fertilizer could have a negative impact on soil health, which in turn can determine whether soil stores carbon or releases it into the atmosphere. Research shows that potassium plays a role in helping crops become more resilient against diseases. Gillingham worries that if farmers try to “skimp” on potash, they may try to overcompensate by using additional fungicides and pesticides, which can kill microbes that keep soil healthy.
These pest killers are not a substitute for plants getting all the nutrients they need, but they may help farmers keep up their crop yields. If the tariffs stick around, it could “push farmers to use less optimal fertilizers or deplete soil health over time,” Mark Schonbeck, a senior research associate at the Organic Farming Research Foundation, said over email. Hemesath disagreed that farmers will be more likely to use pesticides, which he said “will not help in replacing potash or any fertilizer.” But he added that if the tariffs are still in place next year, many corn farmers will have to decide whether to make do with less fertilizer or simply to eat the higher cost of potash.
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https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/trump-tariffs-potash-fertilizer-corn-tomatoes-soil-health-environment/
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