The former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture is hopeful trade issues between the U.S. and China can be resolved but says the USDA has some added ability to help farmers if necessary.
Tom Vilsack tells Brownfield that if the Trump administration needed to assist farmers hurt by Chinese tariffs, there is an additional new resource. “Secretary Perdue has a tool that I did not have, which I think is important. He has full access to the Commodity Credit Corporation resources, which I think really gives him a lot more flexibility than I had. Those were constrained when I was Secretary. The Congress has lifted that constraint.”
But instead of a temporary assistance program, Vilsack says farmers would rather have China and the U.S. work out their trade differences. “I think the reality is that most farmers I’ve talked to are more interested in making sure that markets remain open as opposed to getting a check or some kind of program from the government which is going to be temporary.”
Vilsack is the President of the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and he told nearly one thousand people in the cheese industry that so far, dairy products are not on the list of possible tariffs. Vilsack tells Brownfield China’s growing population needs dairy and believes China is concerned about being overly-dependent on one dairy supplier, which has primarily been Oceania.
--Brownfield AgNews