MITCHELL, S.D. (KELO) — It’s not very often that all three of South Dakota’s Congressional Delegation are together under one roof in their home state, but that’s exactly what farmers were treated to in Mitchell on Wednesday.
It was packed to the brim in the Dakotafest Education Building for the South Dakota Ag Policy Forum featuring U.S. senators John Thune and Mike Rounds as well as representative Dusty Johnson. Two of the many topics brought up were tariffs and trade negotiations.
“Let’s give this a chance to play out, see what kind of deals they can strike, and let’s see if they can put together some really strong trade agreements that would benefit agriculture,” Thune said.
“Even in little old South Dakota, we export $5 billion of agricultural products every single year. That is $5,500 a year for every single South Dakotan, and I think if Donald Trump sticks the landing on the trade negotiations Mike was talking about, that number could get pushed way up,” Johnson said.
While Senator Rounds says the U.S. needs new trade deals, he also expressed concerns about tariffs.
“If we’ve got trading partners that normally would buy our farm and ranch products, and they’re getting hit up with tariffs on some of their products coming in because they don’t buy as much from us as we buy from them, they’re looking at us saying, is there a retaliatory possibility here to where we’ll just buy less of those ag products? That’s a concern to us, and we’ve expressed that,” Rounds said.
Also brought up was immigration and how current policies impact the agriculture workforce, including challenges with the H-2A program.
“When we talk about H-2As, there’s not supposed to be a limit on the number that you can have H-2As, but if you’ve gotten so tied up in paperwork like it has been for the last five years, it’s difficult for folks to get in in the first place and then they get renewed again,” Rounds said.
The lawmakers say farmers are constantly on their minds.
“Agriculture is our number one industry in South Dakota, and it is something that all three of us wake up every morning thinking about what we can do better,” Thune said.
Digital reporter Michael Doorn was also in Mitchell Wednesday. To learn about what Thune, Rounds and Johnson said about young farmers and the farm bill, you can read his report here.
