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'Tariffs matter' and farmers feel pain, Colorado's ag commissioner tells lawmakers

The three "I" states -- Illinois, Indiana and Iowa -- are being hit hard by President Donald Trump's trade war with major trading partners, particularly China, Brown said. China buys 80 percent of the soybeans grown in Iowa.
The family lived and worked on their farm until it was sold to the city in 1998. It was then donated to the city, moved to its current location and restored. It’s meant to preserve the area’s agricultural past & be a gathering place for the community

States with high soybean exports are suffering, and the pain is reaching even a non-soybean state like Colorado, Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Don Brown told lawmakers.

The commissioner spoke to a joint session of the state House and Senate committees on agriculture and natural resources Wednesday.

"Tariffs matter," Brown said.

The three "I" states -- Illinois, Indiana and Iowa -- are being hit hard by President Donald Trump's trade war with major trading partners, particularly China, Brown said. China buys 80 percent of the soybeans grown in Iowa.

And the Nebraska Farm Bureau recently reported its agriculture industry could lose $1 billion from the tariffs, primarily for corn, soybeans and hogs. 

With the China market largely cut off, that means farmers are turning to other crops. Brown said that has generally been corn, and that change is what could hit Colorado corn. 

Read more about Colorado's concerns regarding farm tariffs from Colorado Politics

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