News
Ag economist concerned over ongoing tariff spats
A longtime agricultural economist says he’s concerned about the industry’s outlook.
Dr. David Kohl, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech University, says the ongoing threat of tariffs are weighing on agriculture.
“I think we have to be very concerned about counter tariffs.” He says, “In other words, we put tariffs on automobiles, they come in with counter tariffs, you know, on agriculture. Why it’s very, very important this time is we’ve got much more competition from the global south.”
He tells Brownfield that competition is not limited to South America.
“I’m talking about Africa.” He says, “I’m talking about New Zealand and Australia and so we’re not in the competitive position that we were ten years ago or 15 years ago, because a lot of investments been made by the BRIC nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in building infrastructure.”
Kohl says many farmers were able to survive first Trump administration’s tariffs thanks to built-up reserves, but he’s doubtful most farmers are in that position this time around. He encourages farmers to focus on the controllable variables in their operation.
Brownfield spoke with Kohl at the 2025 Illinois Land Values Conference in Bloomington.
AUDIO: Dr. David Kohl – Virginia Tech
