Black dirt region farmers face uncertain growing season as trade war reaches new level
Some farmers are planning for losses on crops they have just planted.
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Some Hudson Valley farmers are bracing for a major hit as President Donald Trump's trade war with several major trade partners escalates.
Farmers from Orange County's black dirt region — who have already taken a beating over inflation — said Monday the trade war will change the industry, possibly for the worse.
Fourth-generation vegetable farmer Chris Pawelski told News 12 Monday that smaller farms like his could soon pay more for farm equipment and materials, because of 10% , across-the-board tariffs on goods imported from 60 countries, including Canada.
Pawelski is unsure how his squash, cucumbers and melons will do this season.
Some farmers are planning for losses on crops they have just planted.
"All those things that make up part of it, when you grow a crop, could also potentially be affected by the tariffs," he said. "They could exponentially these costs."
Pawelski also lobbies Congress on behalf of larger, commercial farms.
He said those farms are at risk of losing millions because of China's new retaliatory 34% tariffs on all American goods.
Many large farms cannot afford to lose that market.
"If it turns out at the very end that you can't sell it, and you have to eat it — or dump it --that's the worst-case catastrophic scenario," Pawelski said.
However, he said that for farmers of the black dirt region's famous onions, the tariffs against Canadian imports might be positive.
He said Canadian suppliers have been mysteriously undercutting onions there for years.
"As soon as onions come into our market, Canadians come in, and blow [away] what we would sell it for," Pawelski said, "and it doesn't make any sense."
He believes that overall farmers will not be able to easily adjust to the potential shakeups ahead because they cannot change courses in the middle of a growing season.
