Farmer Focus: Trump tariff chaos bound to affect commodity prices

The world has seen another senior moment from Trump, first threatening tariffs on a few EU countries and Britain over Greenland before changing his mind and dropping the idea.

We’ve seen before how political unrest can greatly influence agricultural commodity supply and prices.

But will this recent bout of political chaos focus the government’s view on national food security? I’m not holding my breath.

See also: EU suspends fertiliser tariffs and seeks to halt carbon tax

About the author

Anthony Becvar

Anthony Becvar is a third-generation farmer of an 80ha mixed farm in East Sussex on heavy Weald Clay. Crops include spring beans, winter wheat and spring barley, alongside diversification projects which include two breweries and an agricultural mechanic.

Read more articles by Anthony Becvar

My Groundswell agronomist, Richard, and I had our first crop walk of the year the other day.

The oats look healthy and fairly forward in places. It’s going to be nice heading into the spring with a positive outlook.

The cross-drilled oats look patchier and slightly weedier than the rest, which I wasn’t anticipating.

We’re putting this down to moving the soil twice with the drill, causing the seed to end up deeper and bringing more weed seed to the surface.

During our meetings throughout the year, thoughts always turn to the autumn as we enjoy discussing plans, pros and cons, costs and what might fit with the rotation.

This usually brings forward a lively debate with both of us competing to see who can propose the most ludicrous, complicated, ambitious or risky crop, companions and establishment method.

I find it hard to plan cropping too far ahead, but I’ll happily grow winter oats again as they thrive on our heavy land and, therefore, help my mental health considerably.

As with all crops over the past few years, I will grow them with companions again.

Instead of broadcasting them or drilling them with the oats, we’ve discussed establishing a catch crop mix behind the combine with suitable plants that could act as companions, after drilling the oats directly into the mix later in the autumn.

This would then be terminated later in the spring. 

The intention is to try to harness the benefits of a cover crop while winter cropping. There’s a lot of complications but the benefits could be great.

It’ll look extremely chaotic, but I doubt as chaotic as Trump’s current foreign policy.