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A “depressing” spring for farmers

An Illinois farmer says various issues have made it a challenging year for his profession.

“It has not been a fun spring to be a farmer.”

Kent Treece tells Brownfield profitability at the beginning of the year was limited and now farmers are dealing with adverse weather conditions, late planting, and market response to those situations.

“You don’t know which way to turn, you don’t know what to do and then the weather prohibits you from doing something that you decided you would like to do. It’s nothing that I haven’t been through before, but it has been very depressing this spring.”

Treece says the trade war with China is the icing on the cake and he knows even if a deal is reached, the reward won’t be immediate.

“Our president has promised us that in the long run it will benefit us and I don’t disagree with that, but there again, a guy has to survive another five years to reap any benefits of that.”

Treece farms 3,000 acres in the Mississippi river bottoms in Union County, none of which are planted yet.