Farming is uncertain — a trade war makes it more so

NPR

Published March 21, 2025 at 9:17 AM EDT

Markets for soybeans are set to be affected by an international trade war. In this 2013 photo, a farmer named Greg Porth harvests soybeans near Worthington, Minn.

Farmers already worry about things like crop prices, the cost of farm supplies and extreme weather.

Now, President Trump's signature tariffs — and the federal government under the Trump administration — pose more big question marks.

We hear from Ann Veneman, the Secretary of Agriculture under George W. Bush.

And Robert Smith and Wailin Wong from NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money report on what economic uncertainty means for one farmer.

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Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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