reuters.com
www.reuters.com

Summary

U.S. barley farmers face mounting financial pressure as Trump’s tariffs spark fears of losing key export markets.

Canada, the top importer of U.S. malt barley, has already imposed retaliatory tariffs, and Mexico may follow. Farmers warn that rising fertilizer and chemical costs, combined with declining U.S. beer consumption, threaten their survival.

Breweries may absorb or pass higher costs to consumers, potentially raising beer prices.

Experts say tariffs could devastate barley exports, with industry leaders calling them a major blow to struggling American farmers.

  • talEnglish
    342·
    23 hours ago

    Experts say tariffs could devastate barley exports, with industry leaders calling them a major blow to struggling American farmers.

    US barley production at a county level:

    And the Trump-Harris results for the 2024 Presidential election at a county level:

    I mean, this one is kind of a self-inflicted wound.

    EDIT: Well, there’s Glacier County, Montana. But even there, it looks like this was an unusually Republican election. That is, it wasn’t tariff concerns driving this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_County,_Montana

    Glacier County is located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,778.[1] The county is located in northwestern Montana between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, known to the Blackfeet as the “Backbone of the World”. The county is geographically and culturally diverse and includes the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Glacier National Park, and Lewis and Clark National Forest.

    Owing largely to its majority Native American population, Glacier County generally votes strongly Democratic, in contrast with most other rural Montana counties, which trend Republican. Democratic strength lies in the western and central portions of the county in the Blackfeet Reservation, including the city of Browning. However, the eastern portion of the county, including Cut Bank, votes strongly Republican. In most recent elections, Glacier has been the most Democratic county in the state.

    In the 2024 election, Glacier county saw a shift toward the Republican party, the strongest such shift of all Montana counties. This mirrored other counties in Montana with high Native American populations, such as Blaine, Roosevelt and Big Horn, which all flipped or leaned more Republican after 2020. While Kamala Harris still easily won the county, this was the first time that Glacier County voted to the right of Missoula County since 1980.[7]

    EDIT2: Updated barley map; original one lacked data for some states.

      • talEnglish
        4·
        23 hours ago

        It looks like your barley production map is better. Apparently mine only has data for some states.

        Looks like it still shows the same pattern, though.

    • SippyCup@feddit.nlEnglish
      516·
      22 hours ago

      Every time I start to think that maybe there’s hope, that the working class might unify against this type of shit, I see another post taking delight in the suffering of others because they happened to vote for the red party that’s fucking them, instead of the blue one that’s allowing them to be fucked.

      • talEnglish
        92·
        22 hours ago

        I see another post taking delight

        At no point did I say anywhere that this was a delight.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
          33·
          18 hours ago

          I will say it’s somewhat satisfying in an “I told you so” kind of way. It’s getting really frustrating voting for a government that will serve the people overall, but get rejected by the very people who would benefit most.

          I will continue to vote for sanity and for a government that serves its people but is it really too much to ask for the people to do the same?

          • Lightor@lemmy.world
            6·
            14 hours ago

            You’re asking people to show kindness to their abusers. The people who voted for this have caused massive suffering. People have tried being the more mature ones, look where it got us. Those people are not interested in joining forces. The openly call us the enemy. Asking people to give them sympathy at this point is insulting.