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The Trade War Just Started

Posted By: airforce

The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 12:14 PM

Mexico is one of the top buyers of U.S. corn, but a new bill by a Mexican senator will change that .

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Mexico is one of the top buyers of American corn in the world today. And Mexican senator Armando Rios Piter, who leads a congressional committee on foreign relations, says he will introduce a bill this week where Mexico will buy corn from Brazil and Argentina instead of the United States.

It's one of the first signs of potential concrete action from Mexico in response to President Trump's threats against the country.

"I'm going to send a bill for the corn that we are buying in the Midwest and...change to Brazil or Argentina," Rios Piter, 43, told told CNN's Leyla Santiago on Sunday at an anti-Trump protest in Mexico City.

He added: It's a "good way to tell them that this hostile relationship has consequences, hope that it changes."

American corn goes into a lot of the country's food. In Mexico City, from fine dining restaurants to taco stands on the street, corn-based favorites like tacos can be found everywhere.

America is also the world's largest producer and exporter of corn. American corn shipments to Mexico have catapulted since NAFTA, a free trade deal signed between Mexico, America and Canada.

American farmers sent $2.4 billion of corn to Mexico in 2015, the most recent year of available data. In 1995, the year after NAFTA became law, corn exports to Mexico were a mere $391 million.

Experts say such a bill would be very costly to U.S. farmers.

"If we do indeed see a trade war where Mexico starts buying from Brazil...we're going to see it affect the corn market and ripple out to the rest of the ag economy," says Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN, an agricultural management firm....
This, folks, is not good.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: ConSigCor

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 12:49 PM

So, we are supposed to bend over and kiss their ass just because we want a secure border and they don't like it? Screw Mexico. They don't need to buy all that GMO poison corn to begin with.

[Linked Image]
Posted By: airforce

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 12:59 PM

If you live in Kansas, Nebraska,or Iowa, this is not good news. It's good news for Argentina and Brazil though. And I fear this is just the start. Wait until Trump gets his tariffs (er, "border adjustment taxes") passed.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: ConSigCor

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 01:04 PM

When those government subsidized industrial farmers stop sucking off the taxpayers dollars I might feel sorry for them. NOT
Posted By: airforce

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 01:07 PM

Good point.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: Breacher

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 04:34 PM

I have not studied farm politics for a long time, but I remember that was a big issue in the Carter years.

Bundy had issues competing with imported beef, but I also noticed over the last few years, it's not been like they came out with a special brand of Bundy Beef Jerkey as a "must have" albeit overpriced item for every bugout bag. That, or emdorsements for particular high end restaraunts and casinos on the Vegas Strip that serve Bundy beef steaks.
Posted By: Huskerpatriot

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 08:31 PM

I remember my dad ranting about how the government encouraged them to farm "fence row to fence row" and encouraging farmers to invest in efficient modern technology to allow them to "feed the world"...

Then once in debt, they (Carter administration) played politics" and exports shriveled up and there was not enough revenue to pay back the debt. Many a good farmer lost their shirts, and the farm to boot in this collapse.

My dad didn't dig his way out for another 20-30 years!
Posted By: Breacher

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 09:37 PM

I was in grade school then, and living in farm country. I remembered watching TV when Nixon resigned, it was the same exact thing on every channel at the same time. Same camera angle, same speech, same guy. At the time I didn't really understand the controversy, but it made sense that the Vice President would take over, which he did.

Saturday Night live would come on, and Chevy Chase made a lot of hay over Ford stumbling on a stage. Apart from that, things were unremarkable, except that assassination attempts were on the news from time to time.

When it came time for our third grade class to do an "advisory vote", everyone went Carter because he was a farmer and Christian, and we were in Christian farm country. Grandpa didn't like Democrats, so I was the only kid to go Ford.

By 1978, they were done with Carter, and were talking about tearing up lawns all over Washington DC with a tractor convoy. Same thing, talk of those high interest farm loans and controlled prices on farm products which put farmers under, and the FFA was talking about how the family farm would probably be obsolete while agribusiness was the future.

A close friend of the family rented some of the grandparents acreage and his kids were like step family to me, (although mostly bad step family), they got involved with this guy named Dick Garno who did shit like what Jones did to Strat, but on a bigger scale and a lot worse. Got him all invested and wrapped up in a hybrid seed grain operation then went campaigning against him in the churches and with law enforcement, saying he was just sure old Gene was going to rip him off so this guy Garno got permission from most of the people old Gene rented land from so he could go and harvest the crop that Gene planted. Real crooked stuff, basically stole the crop by making a side deal with the landowners to harvest on contract and then saying old Gene was going to go sell the grain elsewhere and violate that patent stuff because it was seed grain. It about ruined old Gene.

Those farmers who hadn't even graduated high school were easy pickings for the bullshit hustlers and con artists that worked the farm country of the 1970s.
Posted By: airforce

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 09:45 PM

It goes against the grain, but I sort of miss those old CRP "set aside" programs where farmers were paid to leave some of their acreage fallow. I trapped a lot of fur on those fallow fields. wink

But yeah, the family farm just can't make it growing corn and wheat anymore. The small farmer who can't branch out into some specialty market just can't make it. All those subsidies farmers are supposed to get? They go to the big guys.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: Breacher

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/14/2017 10:13 PM

Basically those little 40-100 acre farms are just fine for self sufficient hobby farms and homesteads, you just can't make a middle class living off one, but then I remember how a lot of the multi-generational farmers lived. None of the kids were lacking for the normal toys or teenagers lacking the vehicle of their choice, as long as it was something basic and middling off the Ford of Chevy lot, or a used Dodge. A new middling car, or a used musclecar.

I remember one family that had been on the same 60 acre homestead for several generations and had kept improving it the whole time, to the point they had several acres under a greenhouse. They had everything and lacked nothing. Other families that had upgraded over the years had shifted from cattle to dairy for instance, with a dairy operation that had on site pasteurization and bottling being a major accomplishment, and meant financial security for generations on down the line. If that upgraded to cheese and other dairy products, they did quite well.

You are right though, basic grain farming was a loser deal, according to the guys who just had to drop $100K of 1978 money on a brand new Versatile tractor or new combine every other year.

The two ways you got paid in farming were to not own any of the capitol investment and get paid well for skilled labor, or to own and control everything from field to fork. All those Mormon families with a dozen kids all getting new cars when they come of age, and going to the Air Force academies and such, that's farmer families that own their own operation from field to food processing. Like old Gene would say, the farmer maybe gets 10c out of a loaf of bread, but that hippie down the road getting $2 a loaf (back then) out of the fancy artisan bread. Is probably still doing his thing, nowdays at $8 a loaf.

Farm to fork control with on site processing and packaging, that's where financial independence is, and that's the future of small scale farm investment. Those permaculture and natural foods people get it to work. In Portland, a friend of mine had a "farm subscription service" where you just paid $20 a month and this farmer would drop produce off weekly at a place which worked a lot like a food bank. In fact, I think it was a repurposed food bank. If you were a subscriber to the thing, you would just go in and pick up whatever they happened to have harvested and dropped off. The big deal they were looking for though was supplying restaurants and food karts. There was talk of upgrading it to include meat and dairy at some point but my friend died before introducing me to the people so I am not sure how far it went.

I know that's one of the things we were looking at with the Diaxaris project, but not many people were putting much into it. I dropped off construction supplies and money, showed up to work once every two months or so. Some eastern Washington guys put in a bunch of farm and food process surplus stuff but one guy brought a bunch of small orchard trees and an irrigation system for them. The western washington and Seattle area people who showed up mainly just did some shooting, drinking, gossipping and plotted how they were going to rip shit off when SHTF. Maximizing recon and intelligence gathering, minimizing investment...

I have been shopping small farm properties online, and for the most part, acreage has been separated off from the housing and then there are building restrictions on the acreage, and the housing does not come with enough acreage for any respectable amount of food production other than maybe greenhouses and gardens, which of course the sellers will imply is decent for marijuana production and then snitch off to law enforcement for the second set of payoff in the real estate deal.

40 acre homesteads can still provide plenty for a family that actually works the land and is not jumping into tractor debt, but egos and shiny new equipment seem to always get the better of that and these guys end up to their eyeballs in debt with a barn full of petroleum burning toys.

Jack Spirko has the system for the modern small farm figured out pretty well. He has investors and subscribers who treat it as a SHTF bugout location and they contribute to that end. It means he has lots of extra manpower if shit hits the fan and can sustain himself on the property with what he considers an acceptable lifestyle if shit is not on the fan.

That's the kicker right there, subsistence farming has little or no appeal to anybody when shit is not on the fan. It costs money to keep pace with expected upgrades, and that means getting more people to invest in the farm, or going into debt. It's either collectivized with an investment group, or collateralized with a bank.
Posted By: North Force

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 07:07 AM

...Nixon Admin...Ford Admin...Carter Admin...Reagan Admin...Bush1 Admin...Clinton Admin...Bush2 Admin...Obamma Admin...

ALL controlled by the Banker elite - They push the loans then dump the econ to gain more resources, and have the puppets stand at the podium to convince the sheeple its all ok.

Theve been doing it forever yet most still make an excuse not to kill them all off.

"not my banker, he's a nice banker"

...Trump Admin - we will see. Unless he does something to get rid of the Fake reserve system and pull out of the IMF, then he too is/will be controlled.
Posted By: Mexneck

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 07:07 AM

Breecher I would agree with your post except that people who are buying property in the burbs don't get the improving their investment part. Any land can have some gainful output for food production. It doesn't take acres and acres to reduce a food bill. If people would get smart about farming for food instead of pot they could maximize their investment in the property they've already took a 20-30 year note on. But that would mean actual work which a lot of people seem allergic too.
Posted By: ConSigCor

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 07:55 AM

Mexneck is correct. You can grow a lot of food on just a couple of acres; plus raise a hog and keep chickens. A medicinal herb garden doesn't take up much space either; add a small greenhouse, a root cellar and you're good to go. And, it doesn't take a large group of people...just 2 or 3 who are willing to get off the couch and work.

Also, it doesn't take a huge investment in shiny new farm equipment. Small acreage farmers can do just fine with 60 year old tractors and implements bought for a reasonable price on the used market.
Posted By: airforce

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 12:27 PM

This is only the first step in a trade war. What will happen when people can't but clothing or shoes? Or solar panels, or batteries, or the raw materials needed to make them?

A trade war will not be pretty. I didn't live through the Great Depression, but my parents did. It wasn't fun.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: ConSigCor

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 12:42 PM

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What will happen when people can't but clothing or shoes? Or solar panels, or batteries, or the raw materials needed to make them?
That is why we've preached 'Get ready NOW' for years.

Now matter where you live there are thrift/consignment/trading post/junk stores that buy sale or trade. Find them in your area and get to know the owners. Also find your local farmers market and get to know those people. Build relationships with them now while you have time. These folks will become part of your off grid network.

Also, cruise the yard sales and flea markets. You can find tons of perfectly good used items for pennies on the dollar.

I've been doing this for years and hardly ever buy anything new from the big box, china mart stores. Support the local underground economy and your neighbors instead of the corporate franchises.
Posted By: airforce

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 01:13 PM

We here at AWRM know that, but an economic collapse is not going to be pretty for anyone, even us. And a trade war is only going to accelerate it.

Onward and upward,
airforce
Posted By: Breacher

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 02:02 PM

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Originally posted by ConSigCor:
Mexneck is correct. You can grow a lot of food on just a couple of acres; plus raise a hog and keep chickens. A medicinal herb garden doesn't take up much space either; add a small greenhouse, a root cellar and you're good to go. And, it doesn't take a large group of people...just 2 or 3 who are willing to get off the couch and work.

Also, it doesn't take a huge investment in shiny new farm equipment. Small acreage farmers can do just fine with 60 year old tractors and implements bought for a reasonable price on the used market.
I have never seen them succeed with less than four able bodied active people. The two people either hire help or have a supplimentary income. The Diaxaris project had a cattle operation run by 2-3 people that wasn't our cattle operation, but in the event of SHTF, we were to provide food processing and security services in return for sufficient supplies of beef. When Shit is not on the fan, the cattle owner paid a nominal rent to the property owner for use of the fields and road access to some acreage he owned that was otherwise landlocked.

Issues included the terrible condition of the living space and the amount of money and work that it required to become even remotely tolerable as indoor camping, let alone a real house. Thus on that, it required investment and there were constant arguments over what the place was worth after we moved in and fixed things up a bit, but I had reached the limit of my tolerance on the amount of money I would spend on a residence that I neither owned nor lived in.

What ruined it was Jones converting the land share contribution to a cash debt. Not a mortgage mind you, but an artificial deadline cash debt because those "darn dirty banks" would not agree to finance the amount of money his family decided they needed to solve their tax delinquency and building code violation problems on other properties.

In every single one of these things that I have seen fail, there were people who were functionally outside people who set it up as a cash siphon. In that, these remote areas can usually just produce a stumbling sense of partial self sufficiency. If they were so great for cash siphoning, they would be Manhattan real estate.
Posted By: ConSigCor

Re: The Trade War Just Started - 02/15/2017 05:07 PM

Well...I wasn't talking about that f'd up land deal at Diaxaris. I was referring to a self sufficient homestead. If you don't own your land you'll be sol when shtf.

Around here some of the small farms are operated by one person with occasional help from a neighbor. Outside people are neither needed nor wanted.

My cousin and his son farmed 225 acres for years. The wife did all the housework, tended the garden plus milked over 100 head of cattle twice a day. They worked 7 / 365 dawn till after dark with occasional part time help from a neighbor.
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