ADWhen Anne and her husband, Andy, took over his parents’ 305-acre dairy farm in 2013, they made a good living. Farmers around the country are struggling to pay for basics like groceries and electricity as farm bankruptcies rise and farm debt hits a record high. AD“Mom, I need cauliflower for my soup — and peppers,” said the oldest, Paige, 13, who makes dinner for the family some nights. But Andy grew quiet when they drove past an empty dairy farm, animals gone, barn collapsed — out of business since the last farm crisis in the 1980s. Then, last year came retaliatory tariffs from Mexico and China on dairy products after Trump-imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum — a $125 million blow to New York’s dairy farmers, according to one state estimate.

Source: Washington Post December 26, 2019 18:57 UTC