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Trade war could milk US dairy profits

 

Nations including Mexico and China have retaliated after President Donald Trump imposed several different tariffs on imports to America. And now, it’s impacting the U.S. dairy industry.own a dusty dirt road in rural northwest Wisconsin is Penokee Range Holsteins, a dairy farm owned by Morgan Peck.“We farm about 1,000 acres. We milk 325 cows,” Peck said.Peck, his wife and their two sons have operated the farm for three and a half decades. It produces roughly 1 million gallons of milk annually, which is turned into cheese.“It’s everything, I guess. It’s our career, it’s our passion,” Peck said.That passion recently took a big hit, as Mexico and China announced big tariffs against the U.S. – Mexico with a 25 percent tariff on cheese, and China with tariffs on more than $34 billion on U.S. goods, including cheese.“It feels kind of limiting,” said Peck, who added that it’s too early to tell the exact dollar impact it will have on his farm, but the long-term outlook isn’t great.“If it doesn’t change from what it is now, we’re going to have a lot less dairy farms,” Peck said.He said dairy is cyclical, running in three-year downturns. But this year, he said, is the fourth year in a row dairy has been down – and the tariffs could prolong that downturn.

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