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Farmers, businesses, Kind discuss tariffs

A group of central Wisconsin farmers and business leaders sent a message to Washington D.C., saying tariffs and the lack of markets are hurting them.

One of the farmers was National Farmers Union Vice President Patty Edelburg of Amherst Junction, who says they need two things.  “One, that we have a farm bill that’s going to be passed soon.  It expires at the end of the month so we absolutely need some type of a package that’s going to help farmers in the long run here.  But, we also need to make sure we get these trade deals secured again.”
And Edelburg says lost trade lowers prices, putting more family farms out of business.  “We’ve lost markets that we’ve worked on for thirty years, and to lose them at the snap of a finger, farmers are hurting all around and it’s good for him to know how many farms we’re actually losing in Wisconsin on the dairy side and on the grain side.”

Third District Democrat Ron Kind hosted the private round table discussion, and says he supports upgrading NAFTA, but it needs to get done now.  “I’m going to be taking these stories back with me to Washington next week as I meet with the Trump trade team, trying to impress upon them, yeah, lets try to get fair trade agreements but lets end this war before we do more economic damage back home.”

Kind says if the U.S. would have stayed in the Trans Pacific Partnership which involved both Canada and Mexico, the major sticking points of NAFTA like dairy market access to Canada would have already been dealt with.

The round table discussion was hosted by the Portage County Business Council in Stevens Point Wednesday.