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MILLEN, Ga. () – As the tariff war with China continues to heat up and prices increase, there are more concerns from a farmer in Jenkins County about what that means for the future of his exporting of crops.
According to Georgia Farm Bureau, agriculture contributes more than $83.5 billion annually to Georgia’s economy.
After Hurricane Helene, it left significant damage destroying 40,000 pounds of pecan crops, and now with the current tariffs placed on many other countries, Georgia farmers are facing a negative impact on exports.
“It does severely curtail our exports sales to other countries because in the United States, we grow and we produce more than we can consume,” says Wade Parker, a Southeast District Area Agronomy Agent, an extension with University of Georgia. “So, we have we have supply overload in the United States. So, we we are highly dependent on feeding ourselves in the United States, but we also have a lot of countries that are buyers of our products. So, when we get trade conflicts, that makes our products not as competitive with other countries because they have to be sold at a higher price.”
This also has an impact on imports.
“A lot of our fertilizer, specifically potash fertilizer, comes from Canada, and so when there’s tariffs on those products coming in, that makes our fertilizer, for example, more expensive. We also get a lot of tractors and machinery and parts that come from other countries that now have tariffs on them. So that increases those cost as well. So we’re getting hurt on the export side as far as sales, but we’re also getting hurt on the import side as well,” Parker adds.
However, Parker tells other farmers not to worry because there’s some positives that are in the works.
“It’s my understanding that we are aggressively working with India to get a trade deal, and I know a lot of our commodity groups in the United States have been pushing for more sales in India. So if we can get a trade deal with India, for example, I know that would open up markets for tree nuts and also for cotton and some soybeans and a plethora of other AG products,” says Parker.
Parker says they will continue to produce crops to the market needs.