WASHINGTON (RFD-TV)—U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins calls a new trade deal with Taiwan “a great sign” for row crop farmers. The country has committed to buying a significant amount of American soybeans next year. Rollins says the new trade relationship could not come at a better time for farmers facing financial strain.
“Taiwan has always been a very good trading partner, but there’s never been real commitments, things that we could rely on, especially for, again, for our row croppers who are facing years at this point of financial distress, and the cost of inputs has just skyrocketed in the last administration,” Rollins said. “But Taiwan was a great, a great commitment from them to buy significant numbers of our soybeans, et cetera, beginning next year. And I think that’s really a great sign.”
Rollins will be heading to Japan next week to discuss rice trade, hoping to secure similar deals before traveling to Mexico to continue talks on ethanol and soybeans. She told RFD-TV, relief is on the way for farmers.
“We have been very clear about that. It’s now becoming more and more apparent that we need to be ready [to provide farm aid] -- of course, our partners in Congress are the ones that funded that,” Rollins explained. “[I] talked to several senators on the Ag Committee [and have] been in constant conversations with the White House. Keep monitoring the market and see day by day what happens. We will be releasing another $13 billion. This will be aside from any potential additional -- but in addition, we are putting all of those plans together right now. So, we are on it. We are paying very, very close attention and will likely have an announcement coming soon.”
Rollins told producers they can expect that payment over the next six to eight weeks.
