Yakym Offers Assurance to Farmers
Published: Friday, April 25, 2025
About 20 LaPorte County farmers on Monday received assurance from Congressman Rudy Yakym (R-2nd) that early trade talks with other nations over threats of tariffs are going in the right direction.
LaPorte County Farm Bureau President Mark Parkman said the feedback from Yakym gave him a sense of comfort but, with no outcome yet, he remains plenty worried.
"Until we know for sure the way it's going to be, we're still nervous because anything can happen," he said.
Parkman said he also felt a little more at ease over Yakym's assurance the tariff situation is strictly about helping America and its people, including farmers.
"Of course, he doesn't have a crystal ball and he told us that, but he does feel it's being done for the right reason," he said.
Parkman raises corn, soybeans, wheat about 200 head of cattle at his farm near Westville.
A few weeks ago, Parkman invited Yakym to a commercial building he owns in Westville to address the concerns of local farmers about the tariffs President Trump imposed on other countries and later paused, except for China, to negotiate better trade deals.
Also at the meeting was Matt Schafer, a member of LaPorte County Farm Bureau and farmer from LaCrosse, who shares the concerns reflected throughout the agriculture industry.
Schafer said he appreciated hearing from Yakym, but the tariff situation, despite looking favorable early on, is still up in the air.
"I don't know if I feel a lot different about it than I did going in," he said.
Fears include tariffs driving up the cost of fertilizer and other inputs along with machinery and parts from other countries and causing the price of crops to drop from tariffs other countries imposed on U.S. imports.
Agriculture wants the outcome of the trade talks to be the exact opposite.
"Mutually beneficial agreements, hopefully, can be reached," Schafer said.
Schafer said he expressed to Yakym how important market stability is in planning for the new growing season, but there's been a lot of price volatility recently because of uncertainty brought on by the tariff situation.
"They keep preaching short-term pain versus long-term gain. While not ideal, I guess that's fine as long as we kind of know what we can expect," he said.
For now, Parkman said he seems to be on solid ground because he purchased all of his seed, fertilizer and other supplies for spring planting after President Trump was elected in November.,
He suspected the tariff situation would be coming after Trump made it known during the campaign this is what he was going to do to eliminate longstanding unfair trade and return jobs back to America.
"We went ahead and locked in all of our prices for this growing season," he said.
Schafer said he also purchased all of his spring planting supplies late last year, but that's been a longstanding practice by his family.
Yakym is a member of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, which is greatly involved in matters such as taxes and tariffs.
"That was comforting to be able to hear that from a congressman who is a lot more familiar with the situation than we are," Parkman said.
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