ROGER MARSHALL'S TARIFFS ARE COSTING KANSAS FARMERS AND THE KANSAS ECONOMY

Topeka, Kansas — As Roger Marshall’s devastating tariffs continue to hammer Kansas farmers, a new opinion piece in the Kansas Reflector, written by a former USDA and U.S. Trade official, highlights the “farm trade collapse” that is hurting farmers’ livelihoods and the “$1 billion to the Kansas economy [that] may not materialize this year.”

Earlier this year, Marshall insisted that Kansas farmers should be "patriots" and support the trade war even while it hurts them. While Kansas farmers struggle under the weight of higher costs and shrinking export markets, Marshall continues to double down on the same reckless policies by voting to keep the tariffs in place and lying to Kansans about protecting “farmers and ranchers’ access to critically important export markets.”

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Kansas Reflector: As tariffs swamp Kansas farmers, bet on the following: Useless legislators and pricey bailouts

By Greg Frazier

October 22, 2025

“This is a pretty tough time, to be honest,” farmer Glenn Brunknow told NPR in April. “This is about as grim of time as I’ve seen for crop production. Nothing looks like it’s going to make money right now.”

If he wants to come out ahead this year, this eastern Kansas farmer should bet Republicans in the congressional delegation won’t help. If past performance indicates future results, it’s a sure thing.

As markets shriveled this year, Sen. Roger Marshall claimed Trump gave “Kansas farmers and ranchers access to critically important export markets.” That echoes what he said during the depths of President Trump’s first trade war debacle: “His policies are working.”

They were a catastrophe. Kansas farmers lost $1 billion in foregone exports, farm bankruptcies doubled and they triggered bailouts that cost billions.

Today’s farm trade collapse results from one of the most predictable policy failures in recent memory, a step-by-step replay of arbitrary, mercurial tariffs suffocating farm exports. It’s inexplicable those lessons are not being heeded by key policymakers: the President, the U.S. trade representative (who was deputy trade representative the first go round) and the USDA secretary (who had a White House role then).

Meanwhile, the victims of this colossal blunder are relearning a painful lesson. Their lawmakers will do nothing. They’re also ignoring what they witnessed during the first trade wear.

[...] In April, [Sen. Roger Marshall] could have repealed the tariffs. But, [he] voted to keep them, ignoring escalating warnings.

Signals of an emerging crisis appeared almost immediately after of the president’s April 2 tariff announcement. It was projected in the export outlook planned for release May 29. But USDA leaders spiked the report, then excised the expert-generated analysis.

“In the past, a lot of our milo (grain sorghum) exports have gone to China, and so not having them as a trade partner right now is definitely a challenge,” Andy Hineman told the Reflector in September. That Kansas farmer and other milo growers in the state produce about half of all U.S. exports, adding about $1 billion to the Kansas economy. That contribution may not materialize this year.

A recent USDA report tells a dire story: “No exports were reported for the period ending August 31. Accumulated exports were down seventy percent from the prior year.” To paraphrase Marshall’s recent comments that “sorghum is all about the trade issue,” vanishing milo exports are all about the tariffs.

In 2024, US farmers sold more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to China. Last month, the US didn’t sell a single soybean to China, the first time in nearly a decade. Total 2025 soybean sales to China: zero. The Kansas economy is now in a recession due in large part to falling agriculture exports, says Moody’s.

Instead of sticking up for their constituents, Marshall and Mann cheer meaningless trade announcements. Marshall said the president “found a way to break through and gain access” to the Australia beef market. In reality, that market has essentially been open for years. Mann recast a Trumpism: “This is the art of the deal.”

The art of the deal? That’s not what experts say: “US beef processors will be lucky to move $1-2 million worth of beef annually into Australia, compared to the $4 billion worth of beef Australia sent to the US last year.” Meanwhile, President Trump has said the US will begin buying beef from Argentina.