We miss Paul Harvey letting us know “the rest of the story.”
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is touting a bill she co-sponsored to eliminate tariffs and countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer imports. “Mississippi farmers depend on affordable fertilizer to stay competitive,” she said. “With input costs continuing to strain farmers’ bottom line, Congress must act.”
Well and good, but the rest of the story tells us Sen. Hyde-Smith could have acted sooner.
Key Mississippi crops like corn and sorghum (corn is the second most prevalent crop to soybeans) depend heavily on nitrogen-based fertilizer, not just phosphate fertilizer.
“In the six weeks since the war (in Iran) started,” the Delta Farm Press reported that urea prices have surged 49%, UAN 38%, and anhydrous ammonia 32%. The war has also driven diesel fuel, which nearly all farmers depend on, from $3.17 a gallon in Mississippi a year ago to $5.03 last week, according to AAA.
“We got people that were barely struggling to get by, and now they’ve been hit with two major increases for fertilizer and fuel just exactly at the wrong time when we needed them,” Como corn farmer Sledge Taylor told National Public Radio. “It’s going to be the nail in the coffin for a number of farmers.”
Senators and congressmen swear an oath to uphold the constitution. That constitution places solely on the Congress the power to declare war. Had Sen. Hyde-Smith, and others touting their concern for farmers, lived up to their oaths of office, the disruptions caused by the Iran war could have been mitigated and possibly avoided.
No doubt congressional debate and discussion to approve an Iran war request from President Trump would have revealed the likely economic consequences, particularly to farmers. Afterall, the war zone sits at the crossroads of much of the world’s fuel and fertilizer supplies.
A corn and soybean farmer in South Dakota saw it coming. He told Newsweek that as soon as the news broke on the Iran attacks, he rushed to lock in one last load of urea, the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer. Many were not so fortunate. The American Farm Bureau reported that only 19% of farmers in the south preordered fertilizer.
Rising diesel and fertilizer costs are making it tough on Mississippi farmers, MSU Extension Service agricultural economist Will Maples told the Columbus Commercial Dispatch. “I’m afraid guys who are at retirement age (will) say they’re just done, and don’t want to keep going in this current low price, high input cost environment.”
“When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said”– Numbers 30.2.
Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from North Jackson.
9 comments:
"Hide"-Smith has been in over her head since she was in the state legislature. Always two steps behind.
Read that again - only 19% of southern farmers locked in urea prices when war broke out. Where are all the smart men? Again intelligence is not Mississippi’s strong point. Now they want help. Everyone in Mississippi wants government assistance. All this state has is token politicians like Cindy Hyde smith and Bennie Thompson that works on hand outs instead of solutions. U reap what u sow.
But the warmonger Wicker walks on water. He's a military expert, you know.
The billionaires and trillionaires are running out of things to own and tax write offs. Russia has lost 35000 farms in the last 5 years. 80% are insolvent. The WAR in Ukraine didn't help. Taking advice from your buddy, Putin, isn't a good idea.
Scott Colom paid for and approved
Iran infiltrates terrorism universally. Biden let thousands of unvetted Islamist fanatics over the border, who can poison our water, bomb our airliners and provoke rallies for Hamas. Meanwhile, farmers are richly subsidized and can learn to be prepared or go out of business like the rest of us.
8:16, how miserable does one have to be to shit on everything he sees? You don’t know what percent of Mississippi farmers pre-ordered, just the south as a whole. I’m sorry everyone else hasn’t reached your level of perfection, so give the rest of us a bit of grace until we do.
I don't know what your long winded screed about Jews and Israel had to do with this post but it's not getting approved. The post is about a farm bill.
ROFLMAO. What a sad life that loser leads.
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