Turns out Art of the Deal is just Bully of the Deal. Not exactly smart or effective. The US farmers should give Trump the Parade he wanted. Drive their farm equipment around the White House Block creating a protest blockade. He needs to learn to respect everyone.
Well, I suggest the farmers get on their tractors and head off to the state capitals and eventually to Washington with their unsold grain and dairy products. Just think, they could be led by "farmers" like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Ted Turner, three of the biggest owners of private farmland in the US. Mind you, these "farmers" have nothing in common with the real farmers, those struggling to make a decent living off their smaller acreages. The United States is defined by the excesses of its ruling class. But why do a handful of people own so much land? Because land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, they're not making any more of it - it is a limited resource. The relationship to land – who owns it, who works it and who cares for it – reflects excessive levels of inequality.
Well well - they got what they want. Can’t sell you crops- cry me a river.. deliver them to the White House. He wanted it that way - and so did they!! NO BAILOUT
I feel for the American farmers. If only someone could have foreseen that this would happen! Canada must continue to expand our foreign markets and to forge new trade alliances. And we need to take care of one another.
Such an important argument, and thanks for sharing your perspective, Charlie. Our hearts break for the innocent farmers who are caught in the middle of this mess. They didn't lobby for these tariffs, and they were never posturing for Canada to be annexed into the United States. Our response as Canadians is hurting their livelihoods, and we wish that wasn't the case. But, to your point, what choice did we have? The message had to be sent that Canada won't put up with Trump's bullshit. And now that we're months into this adaptation, there's no going back. You're 100% right that all of these consequences were completely predictable when Trump launched his useless trade war with Canada and the rest of the world. Now, good crops rot in the sun and on the docks, and the reason for those losses is an orange, demented asshole in Washington.
There is a lot of other suffering in the world and yet, American farm issues are largely self-inflicted so that's the ***** I don't give. We have beautiful corn in Canada, I don't care about Iowa. We also have wonderful maple syrup, don't care about Vermont. Don't care about Virginia ham or Maryland crab or Ohio apples either. We have a lot of wonderful right here, enough that we can keep it local pretty good. Let's worry about our own farmers like here in the Annapolis Valley of NS. We've had a summer of extreme draught and a devastating wildfire. The ground crumbled over the summer, we saw the effects in hay production, dried up corn fields and other crops, smaller fruit. Yet still they persist. Time to let go of the myth that some things in 'Murica are simply better and look to our own.
BUY CANADIAN !!!!!!!!Write your retailers and point out needless USA products being stocked. ie. SAVE ON FOODS on VANCOUVER ISLAND stocking USA sourced ROMAINE LETTUCE when there are not only CANADIAN but VANCOUVER ISLAND produced alternatives available !!!! I have let SAVE ON FOODS know I am not happy.
The sad thing is, many of those farmers voted for Trump, even though he openly touted tariffs during his campaign and economic experts spoke out against tariffs. In spite of their suffering, a not-insignificant number of them would still vote for him if they had it to do again. Because it's practically a death cult. It's hard to feel sorry for those farmers on one hand, but it's also really hard to watch people hurting themselves and so deep in it that they can't even see it. It has to be some sort of psychological phenomenon. And btw, it's not even just the pesticides. They aren't monitoring for things they used to monitor for, like listeria for example, and even if I weren't boycotting for Canadian reasons, I would not feel the same level of trust and safety in buying American food products as I used to. Wait for it. Curtailing vaccines and reducing food inspection / standards, increasing food insecurity (especially healthy foods, that have been plowed under due to lack of workers), all while cutting healthcare is going to make for an interesting winter in the U.S. It's like watching a slow motion car accident.
See, I can't feel sorry for U.S. farmers because, like their Canadian counterparts they constantly vote Republican against their own best interests. I grew up in prairie Saskatchewan it's a huge farming area, arguably the bread basket of Canada surrounding Humboldt, Sk. from Tisdale to Melfort, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, to Regina, Yorkton and beyond. It was all small family farms then. These mostly Conservative farmers started buying up every piece of land for sale. They were no longer satisfied with the Crow Rate or taking their grains to the nearest elevator. They wanted to truck it directly to the U.S. So the Crow Rate went (Conservative government), and the elevators went as did all the small towns too eventually. Now the small farmers
left had to haul their grain farther too.
Next it was the Wheat Board that assured every farmer a fair price for their grains that farmers did away with. That's when the small family farms could no longer compete. They sold out and guess who bought up all the land. The corporate farms did
This might seem to have little to do with Trump and American farmers except that Canada followed their example. Now that Trump is running the show American farmers are suffering badly.
There is an important lesson to be learned here. Canadian farmers are benefitting off Trump’s ignorance but are Canadian farmers smart enough to realize what goes on there comes up here? They'd better be very careful who they choose to vote for here lest they elect a mini-Trump.
loved this <3 every Friday I interview a farm tending to land and animals - I’d love if you stopped by and had a read!
Standing with U.S. farmers. My latest article outlines a potential path forward.
Cheap Fertizers are the key !
https://open.substack.com/pub/ghazibenahmed/p/tunisias-phosphate-potential-a-strategic?r=4ukxmm&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post-publish
Turns out Art of the Deal is just Bully of the Deal. Not exactly smart or effective. The US farmers should give Trump the Parade he wanted. Drive their farm equipment around the White House Block creating a protest blockade. He needs to learn to respect everyone.
Woo soooo true Charles.
Trump’s economic ignorance is lethal.
Well, I suggest the farmers get on their tractors and head off to the state capitals and eventually to Washington with their unsold grain and dairy products. Just think, they could be led by "farmers" like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Ted Turner, three of the biggest owners of private farmland in the US. Mind you, these "farmers" have nothing in common with the real farmers, those struggling to make a decent living off their smaller acreages. The United States is defined by the excesses of its ruling class. But why do a handful of people own so much land? Because land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, they're not making any more of it - it is a limited resource. The relationship to land – who owns it, who works it and who cares for it – reflects excessive levels of inequality.
Well well - they got what they want. Can’t sell you crops- cry me a river.. deliver them to the White House. He wanted it that way - and so did they!! NO BAILOUT
Those fools probably still have the sign up.
I feel for the American farmers. If only someone could have foreseen that this would happen! Canada must continue to expand our foreign markets and to forge new trade alliances. And we need to take care of one another.
Or is it “Chickens for Col. Sanders”?
Such an important argument, and thanks for sharing your perspective, Charlie. Our hearts break for the innocent farmers who are caught in the middle of this mess. They didn't lobby for these tariffs, and they were never posturing for Canada to be annexed into the United States. Our response as Canadians is hurting their livelihoods, and we wish that wasn't the case. But, to your point, what choice did we have? The message had to be sent that Canada won't put up with Trump's bullshit. And now that we're months into this adaptation, there's no going back. You're 100% right that all of these consequences were completely predictable when Trump launched his useless trade war with Canada and the rest of the world. Now, good crops rot in the sun and on the docks, and the reason for those losses is an orange, demented asshole in Washington.
There is a lot of other suffering in the world and yet, American farm issues are largely self-inflicted so that's the ***** I don't give. We have beautiful corn in Canada, I don't care about Iowa. We also have wonderful maple syrup, don't care about Vermont. Don't care about Virginia ham or Maryland crab or Ohio apples either. We have a lot of wonderful right here, enough that we can keep it local pretty good. Let's worry about our own farmers like here in the Annapolis Valley of NS. We've had a summer of extreme draught and a devastating wildfire. The ground crumbled over the summer, we saw the effects in hay production, dried up corn fields and other crops, smaller fruit. Yet still they persist. Time to let go of the myth that some things in 'Murica are simply better and look to our own.
BUY CANADIAN !!!!!!!!Write your retailers and point out needless USA products being stocked. ie. SAVE ON FOODS on VANCOUVER ISLAND stocking USA sourced ROMAINE LETTUCE when there are not only CANADIAN but VANCOUVER ISLAND produced alternatives available !!!! I have let SAVE ON FOODS know I am not happy.
ELBOWS UP
The sad thing is, many of those farmers voted for Trump, even though he openly touted tariffs during his campaign and economic experts spoke out against tariffs. In spite of their suffering, a not-insignificant number of them would still vote for him if they had it to do again. Because it's practically a death cult. It's hard to feel sorry for those farmers on one hand, but it's also really hard to watch people hurting themselves and so deep in it that they can't even see it. It has to be some sort of psychological phenomenon. And btw, it's not even just the pesticides. They aren't monitoring for things they used to monitor for, like listeria for example, and even if I weren't boycotting for Canadian reasons, I would not feel the same level of trust and safety in buying American food products as I used to. Wait for it. Curtailing vaccines and reducing food inspection / standards, increasing food insecurity (especially healthy foods, that have been plowed under due to lack of workers), all while cutting healthcare is going to make for an interesting winter in the U.S. It's like watching a slow motion car accident.
💙🇨🇦💙
See, I can't feel sorry for U.S. farmers because, like their Canadian counterparts they constantly vote Republican against their own best interests. I grew up in prairie Saskatchewan it's a huge farming area, arguably the bread basket of Canada surrounding Humboldt, Sk. from Tisdale to Melfort, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, to Regina, Yorkton and beyond. It was all small family farms then. These mostly Conservative farmers started buying up every piece of land for sale. They were no longer satisfied with the Crow Rate or taking their grains to the nearest elevator. They wanted to truck it directly to the U.S. So the Crow Rate went (Conservative government), and the elevators went as did all the small towns too eventually. Now the small farmers
left had to haul their grain farther too.
Next it was the Wheat Board that assured every farmer a fair price for their grains that farmers did away with. That's when the small family farms could no longer compete. They sold out and guess who bought up all the land. The corporate farms did
This might seem to have little to do with Trump and American farmers except that Canada followed their example. Now that Trump is running the show American farmers are suffering badly.
There is an important lesson to be learned here. Canadian farmers are benefitting off Trump’s ignorance but are Canadian farmers smart enough to realize what goes on there comes up here? They'd better be very careful who they choose to vote for here lest they elect a mini-Trump.