dado potato
8-12-19, 12:37pm
Regarding trade negotiations with China, President Trump tweeted "I am in no hurry, but things look good."
Maybe not so good in Marathon County, WI, where 170 ginseng growers have seen Chinese tariffs go from 8% in 2016 to 38% in 2019, followed by the coup de grace: on August 8, China's Ministry of Agriculture announced that it would suspend all US agricultural purchases in retaliation for President Trump's threat of a new 10% tariff on all Chinese imports. 85% of the ginseng harvested in Marathon County is exported to China.
Every fall, in previous years, Asian ginseng buyers flew in to Central Wisconsin to make purchase agreements for the coming year. But this year, it would seem, the Chinese buyers will be flying to Ontario, Canada instead, where there are about 140 growers. Since the 1980s Ontario farmers have been increasing ginseng cultivation on lands formerly planted with tobacco. The Government of Canada has supported ginseng growers with research into new production and harvesting methods along with marketing research assistance for the growers' association.
In contrast, the USDA has promised ginseng growers "a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs" … the Market Facilitation Payments (MFP) for ginseng will be based on harvested acres in 2019. While details have been sparse, the USDA press release states that relief payments "will be made". So it looks like for 2019, ginseng growers in Marathon County need to harvest as much as they can, dump it, then apply for relief payments. The cycle from planting ginseng to harvesting is 4 to 5 years. I would expect that a Wisconsin grower would question, before deciding to plant ginseng, will there still be MFP relief payments in 2023-2024?
Of course MFP relief is envisioned on a vastly greater scale for producers of other agricultural exports, such as soybeans, cotton, rice, etc.
Incidentally, Marathon County WI in 2016 voted 47.9% for Trump versus 46.9% for Clinton.
Maybe not so good in Marathon County, WI, where 170 ginseng growers have seen Chinese tariffs go from 8% in 2016 to 38% in 2019, followed by the coup de grace: on August 8, China's Ministry of Agriculture announced that it would suspend all US agricultural purchases in retaliation for President Trump's threat of a new 10% tariff on all Chinese imports. 85% of the ginseng harvested in Marathon County is exported to China.
Every fall, in previous years, Asian ginseng buyers flew in to Central Wisconsin to make purchase agreements for the coming year. But this year, it would seem, the Chinese buyers will be flying to Ontario, Canada instead, where there are about 140 growers. Since the 1980s Ontario farmers have been increasing ginseng cultivation on lands formerly planted with tobacco. The Government of Canada has supported ginseng growers with research into new production and harvesting methods along with marketing research assistance for the growers' association.
In contrast, the USDA has promised ginseng growers "a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs" … the Market Facilitation Payments (MFP) for ginseng will be based on harvested acres in 2019. While details have been sparse, the USDA press release states that relief payments "will be made". So it looks like for 2019, ginseng growers in Marathon County need to harvest as much as they can, dump it, then apply for relief payments. The cycle from planting ginseng to harvesting is 4 to 5 years. I would expect that a Wisconsin grower would question, before deciding to plant ginseng, will there still be MFP relief payments in 2023-2024?
Of course MFP relief is envisioned on a vastly greater scale for producers of other agricultural exports, such as soybeans, cotton, rice, etc.
Incidentally, Marathon County WI in 2016 voted 47.9% for Trump versus 46.9% for Clinton.