A wet spring continues to have an impact as Minnesota farmers recently turned their calendars to August.
The latest crop report, released Monday by the USDA, shows the corn crop is rated at 57 percent good to excellent. Adam Birr is executive director at the Minnesota Corn Growers Assocation. He joined the Morning News with Dave Lee at FarmFest on Wednesday.
"I had a lot of tough conversations this spring as folks were waiting to get into the field, especially in western Minnesota," Birr said. "There was a lot of prevent plant, where they were unable to plant corn so they rely on crop insurance and other resources to cover that."
Birr said that the ongoing trade war continues to worry Minnesota farmers. Chinese leaders on Monday said they hadn't ruled import tariffs on newly purchased US agricultural products after August 3rd and companies had suspended purchasing U.S. ag products. This after President Trump announced last week a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of imported products from China.
"We don't send a lot of raw corn to China, but we do send pork and a lot of Ethanol. That's a big, emerging market for us on the China market, so it impacts us that way," he said.
Minnesota FarmFest is underway in Redwood County showcasing products, services and technologies from over 500 exhibitors and vendors.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, will be at Farmfest on Wednesday. He'll join Minnesota Congressional Members at the U.S. House Ag Committee Listening Session on the Farm Economy at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Attendees will have a chance to hear from the panel as well as ask questions on issues related to ag policy and the farm economy.