Monday, November 2, 2020

Trump lied about Wisconsin dairy, newspaper says

The Washington Post says United States President Donald Trump lied when he claimed dairy exports to Canada increased by 100 per cent due to the new trade agreement among Canada, Mexico and the United States.


Trump made the claim during a campaign rally in Wisconsin.

to voters during a recent campaign rally in Wisconsin.


Reporter Melina Mara also reported that Trump falsely claimed the state’s dairy farms were “decimated” under the Obama/Biden administration but “now … are doing very well.” 

“Dairy and agricultural market experts told us changes in the industry, including in milk prices, overproduction and consolidation, under both administrations largely have been due to market forces,’ Mara wrote.

Andrew M. Novaković, a professor emeritus of agricultural economics at Cornell University, said that cyclical milk prices, which hit a peak in 2014 and then declined, “occur almost entirely due to market forces. Presidents Obama and Trump deserve little if any credit or blame for these oscillations.”

A consolidation trend — of fewer but bigger dairy farms — has been happening “for quite some time now,” Chad Hart, a professor of economics and crop markets specialist at Iowa State University, told told Mara.

A decline in the number of producers continued under the Trump administration, he said.