TAYLOR, N.D. – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today toured CHS Southwest Grain to discuss the importance of exports for North Dakota grain growers and the needs of North Dakota’s farmers as she works in Congress on the next Farm Bill.

CHS Southwest Grain has over 5,000 patrons with loading facilities in Taylor and New Salem in North Dakota, and Lemmon in South Dakota. It also runs a 52-car loader dedicated solely to durum in Dickinson. North Dakota grows over half of the durum wheat produced in the United States, and it’s one of the critical exports that could be threatened by the tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the administration on Canada, Mexico, and the European Union (EU) which were announced yesterday.

As NAFTA renegotiations continue and farmers are faced with increased uncertainty, Heitkamp has been pushing the administration to back off damaging threats to withdrawal from NAFTA and speaking out against tariffs that would put the state’s economy at risk.

“Anyone at CHS Southwest Grain understands just how important trade is to the company’s success and to supporting North Dakota’s farmers and ranchers, who are the heart and soul of North Dakota’s agriculture economy,” Heitkamp said. “Producers are rightfully worried that a trade war with our closest trading partners could throw a wrench in the farm economy – and that’s the last thing we need as pressure from low commodity prices, drought, and other uncertainties are top of mind for farmers these days – but unfortunately the tariffs on aluminum and steel will have consequences for the U.S. With 95 percent of the world’s consumers – and mouths to feed – located outside the U.S., we have to export our products to succeed, and farmers understand that better than anyone. We need smart trade policies to allow our farmers to reach new markets – not tariffs that turn potential customers away – and a strong Farm Bill which I’m working on in Congress that supports North Dakota.”

North Dakota is the ninth largest agriculture exporting state in the country, with $5.3 billion in commodities exported in 2017 —and Canada and Mexico are the state’s two biggest foreign markets. For example, of North Dakota’s exports, 95 percent of its corn, 88 percent of its beef, 86 percent of its pork, and 100 percent of its poultry go to Canada and Mexico, according to a recent Farm Bureau report.

 

When the administration announced tariffs on aluminum and steel yesterday against Canada, Mexico, and the European Union – critical trading partners and customers of North Dakota goods – those countries immediately announced they’d respond with retaliatory tariffs against U.S. products, with North Dakota farmers potentially in the crosshairs. Heitkamp came out strongly against the tariffs, and cosponsored bipartisan legislation introduced by Republican Arizona U.S. Senator Jeff Flake to nullify the aluminum and steel tariffs announced by the administration on March 8.

Heitkamp has long worked to expand and protect market access for North Dakota farmers and ranchers. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Heitkamp is committed to protecting crucial export promotion programs in the 2018 Farm Bill. 

Heitkamp helped write, negotiate, and pass the 2014 Farm Bill, and since it passed, she has been working on the next Farm Bill. In 2016, she did a Farm Bill tour across eastern North Dakota in 2017 and she did a drought and Farm Bill tour across the western part of the state to hear from North Dakotans about what they want to see in the next Farm Bill. She has introduced a series of bills aimed at shaping the next Farm Bill to make sure it works for North Dakota, including:

• A bill to fix the ARC-County Program to help farmers when commodity prices fall to damaging levels.

• A bill to improve disaster assistance to livestock and honeybee producers by permanently removing the funding cap for the Emergency Livestock Assistance Program (ELAP) – a provision that was signed into law in a recent budget agreement –  and the bill would also allow the Secretary of Agriculture to temporarily raise the cost-share assistance provided by the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) from 75 percent to 90 percent in counties that receive an extreme drought designation.

• A bill to make sure the needs of Indian Country are addressed in the Farm Bill, especially issues pertaining to nutrition and housing.

• A bill to support programs that help young and beginning farmers and ranchers enter and remain in the industry, build the next generation of farmers, and feed the country and the world.

Background:

Exports are a critical component of North Dakota’s farming, ranching, and manufacturing economy. For example:

• 60 percent of North Dakota’s exports to China are agricultural products, according the U.S. Department of Commerce.

• North Dakota grows over half of the total U.S. production of durum wheat, and Italy is the world’s second largest importer of U.S. durum.

• 71 percent of North Dakota soybeans go to Asia, primarily China, according to the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association. On the day the proposed Chinese tariffs were announced, there was a 40 cent drop in price, which would equate to a $99.4 million dollar loss to ND farmers. Or a loss of $16.60 per acre.

• North Dakota exports 95 percent of its corn, 88 percent of its beef, 86 percent of its pork, and 100 percent of its poultry to our NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico, according to a recent Farm Bureau report.

• North Dakota is in the top 10 most exposed states to new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, according to the Brookings Institution.

• North Dakota is home to over 17,000 workers employed in industries that are particularly dependent on production and consumption of steel and aluminum, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• 50 percent of North Dakota’s exports to the European Union are agricultural and construction.

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