Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/8/19

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and other committee members held a listening session on Wednesday at the Minnesota Farmfest in Redwood Falls, where farmers sounded off on a range of challenges in the industry — especially the trade feud with China.

Several attendees took issue with Trump's rhetoric surrounding the trade war and its impact on agriculture. The president has frequently tweeted his support for "our great patriot farmers" who are bearing the brunt of Chinese retaliation. "If the farmer goes in to see his lender in the fall, and says he's sorry, he doesn't have enough money ... the banker doesn't tell him, 'You're a patriot, you don't have to pay your bill,'" said one speaker.

Brian Thalmann, president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, said farmers and ranchers are "not starting to do great again," contrary to Trump's statements. "Things are going downhill, and downhill very quickly," he added.

One farmer told Perdue that a USDA acreage report released in late June "made me physically ill," blaming the publication for killing a rally in commodity prices "that we desperately needed at a time during the spring when we wanted to empty our bins, get ready for the upcoming harvest and pay our bills." (The report included higher crop production estimates than the market had anticipated.)

Perdue defended the survey-based data from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service and said the schedule for releasing publications is determined years in advance. "These guys are professionals," he said. "There's no cynicism or no conspiracy there at all."

Peterson also got an earful from a dairy and livestock farmer who was skeptical of the new dairy safety net program under the 2018 farm bill. Peterson has touted the dairy initiative as the farm bill's most significant improvement, and he expressed frustration on Wednesday that 61 percent of Minnesota dairy farmers have signed up. "For the life of me, I cannot figure out why that's not 100 percent, because it is a no-brainer," he said.

The dairy farmer said she was "appalled" by his statement, saying some farmers weren't signing up "because last time they had a sign-up, they barely got their premiums back. It was not a good program."