What A Day - The Reality of Being An American Farmer Right Now

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

Chinese and American negotiators announced on Sunday that they had agreed to a “framework of a deal” on tariffs ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But in the meantime, farmers are getting walloped by Trump’s trade war with China. During Trump’s first term in office, his tariffs led to steep price drops in American soybeans, prompting massive bailouts for struggling farmers. And now farmers are facing more of the same – with no certainty of another bailout this time. So we called Phil Verges, a soybean farmer in western Wisconsin, to talk about what he’s seeing and hearing from farmers just like him.And in headlines, President Donald Trump finds a private, billionaire donor to pay U.S. military service members during the government shutdown, Trump officials continue to play the shutdown blame game, and U.S. beef farmers beef with Trump over… beef.Show Notes:Call Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Monday, October 27th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show that read a Wall Street journal piece about how the big thing holding robots back is that researchers can't create an equivalent to the human hand and thought, I'm actually okay that robots do not have humanoid hands. Actually, I'd rather they never have humanoid hands. On today's show, President Donald Trump finds a private billionaire donor to pay U.S. military service members during the government shutdown. And U.S. beef farmers beef with Trump over beef. But let's start with tariffs, one of Donald Trump's favorite things.

That view is probably not shared by most American farmers. farmers who were getting hit hard by Trump's trade war with China, the predominant buyer of American soybeans. Trump is in Asia this week, and on Sunday, Chinese and American negotiators announced that they had agreed to a, quote, framework of a deal on tariffs. If you're like me, that sounds a little bit like Trump's concepts of a plan on health care from 2024, and doesn't answer the real anxieties thousands of American farmers are feeling right now. Remember that during Trump's first term in office, a trade war with China resulted in price declines for soybeans hitting 30%, which led to massive bailouts like $32 billion in 2020 alone massive.

And now farmers are facing more of the same, with no certainty of another bailout this time. But don't worry. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent feels the pain of the American soybean farmer. Here he is Sunday on ABC Newses this week. Well, Martha, in case you don't know it, I'm actually a soybean farmer, so I have felt this pain too. and there are a couple of things happening here. Just a quick fact check there. Scott Bessent, who is worth an estimated $600 million, is not a soybean farmer.

But according to his financial disclosures, he owns land used for soybean and corn farming, land that generates rental income for him to the tune of between $100,000 and $1 million a year. So not a soybean farmer, more of a soybean landlord. But Phil Verges is a soybean farmer. He's been farming corn and soybeans in western Wisconsin for decades. And he came up during our conversation with Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin a few weeks ago. So we decided to call Phil and talk about what he's seeing and hearing from farmers just like him. Phil, welcome to what today.

Well, thank you, James. Great to be with you today. When we spoke with Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin a week or so ago, she mentioned having a conversation with you about the impact tariffs have had on your business. But before we get into that, can you just tell me about what you do? Well, sure. I've been a lifelong farmer. It's hard to believe. It's been about 45 years now. A lot of college was dairy farming with my dad for a number of years. And for the last 30 years, I've been a crop farmer. I grow soybeans, corn, and some hay. About 500 acres I farm. One-man show, do it all alone.

A lot of places, you know, interview with these guys that run thousands of acres. I'm in today's world, more on the smaller side, but it definitely keeps me busy. And, you know, it's something I've always enjoyed doing, being out with nature every day and, you know, being your own boss, stuff like that. So it's been a real pleasure to be able to do what I've liked all my life. So what happened to your business when tariffs were implemented at the federal level? Well, it's been tough on things. You know, the first round of tariffs was back in 18 or 19. And before that, China was buying about one-third of the soybeans that we produced here in the U.S.

And that, you know, was a tremendous market, a market that we've been building for decades, really. And that first round of tariffs, it definitely depressed our prices. It was a shock to our market. And I think it set the stage for China to be less dependent on us. And in the meantime, they've definitely invested in South America and switched their business there. Now with the latest round of tariffs here this current year, that's kind of the nail on the coffin, I would say, as far as just our reputation globally with our trading partners. And that has, you know, had dramatic effects on the prices that we've been receiving for the crops that we grow. Currently, with today's prices, I'm losing probably about $85 an acre on soybeans that I'm growing.

corn has been affected as well, depending on how the yields come in. You know, we hopefully are making a little money on corn, but that remains to be seen yet. Yeah, I want to ask about those first tariffs back in 2018. How did those affect your bottom line and your ability to just make ends meet? Well, it was tough. The 20-teens were difficult years with prices as they were. Then the tariffs came in, drop prices even more. And for us, in our family, we relied on credit card debt to get us through some of those years just to pay our living expenses because we're making little or no money on the farm in those times.

So, yeah, it had a very significant impact on us. Was your business able to rebound in any way from those tariffs between 2018, 2019 and the end of the Biden administration? It wasn't related to the tariffs at that time. But after COVID, there were some global weather issues, some serious droughts in the U.S. and South America. We had less crops produced, so that did result in some considerable raises and the prices that we received for our corn, soybeans, and other grains. And that did help a lot. We were able to kind of catch up a little bit on all of the dead. that's that we had accrued from the first round of tariffs, get back on our feet a little bit.

But, you know, now we've had bountiful crops here and in South America. And now with the latest round of tariffs, it's making it very difficult, hard-to-fine markets for our crops. We're able to sell them to the grain terminals, but we take, in most cases, considerably less than what it costs to produce them. And it isn't only the prices that we receive for the products like soybeans that we grow, but a huge part of it is the increase in our costs. Our fertilizer costs are up significantly for next year. So we're going to be paying more for our inputs and potentially getting considerably less for our products. Yeah.

Why are those costs going up? Well, a lot of the fertilizer that we use here in the United States, comes from other countries. Canada is a big supplier of our pot ash, I believe some of our fostersis. We don't have a lot of mines for these kind of fertilizer commodities here in the U.S. So a lot of it gets shipped in from abroad, and the tariffs are having a significant impact on that. So that is creating price squeezes, as I said. Our inputs are going up and the price that we get for what we grow is going down. So it makes it very difficult.

How are you getting by right now? Well, for me, Jane, I'm getting close to retirement. We're fortunate enough to have paid down considerable amount of our debts over a lifetime of farming. And unfortunately, we're pulling money out of our retirement savings to make ends meet here lately the last year or so. and that's, you know, difficult because we're in the years that we want to be putting more away so we can prepare for retirement.

I'm questioning whether or not I might have to retire early just to, you know, stop the bleeding, so to speak, before I do into all my retirement savings. So that's a real challenge for us. I think if I was 10 years younger, I would probably be in a situation of, you know, seriously considering stopping farming and having to find, you know, job, off the farm. But where we are in our lives right now, we are limping in retirement, I guess you could say. Yeah, I think that that gets to something I was thinking about, which is that, you know, there are farmers who are younger than you. There are so many people who still want to and obviously

love farming in America. How are your fellow farmers who are younger doing? And how do you think all of this affects the future of American farming? Well, it's difficult. It's, it's, You know, this price squeeze is hard. Every farm is, you know, a little bit different and how things are structured and what kind of, you know, debts in that they might have. But it's difficult for everyone. You know, I get together with a lot of the neighbors every week at Bowling,

and we, you know, several of them are farmers, and I get a chance to talk about things. And, you know, the mood is quite disheartening overall. A lot of, I hate to say depression, but, you know, folks are not feeling good about where we are right now. You know, as farmers, we don't like to complain. We're eternal optimists, and we always think, you know, next year's going to be better.

But I think it's taking its toll. You know, there's a lot of farmers of all ages that are really struggling. You work all year and have nothing to show for it. I kind of like to share with my non-farm friends. You know, imagine if you were working all year for your employer, without a paycheck, and then at the end of the year, you're going to get your paycheck. That's kind of all it goes with farming. Well, at the end of the year, for us, instead of getting our paycheck, we're owing our employer,

you know, tens of thousands of dollars in some cases. So that's difficult to reconcile when you've worked all year and then you don't have enough left over at the end of year, pay your bills. Yeah, and in this case, your employer is the bills, basically. That's the seed dealer and the fertilizer companies, yeah, the suppliers where we buy our inputs to plan our crops. That's our boss, I guess you could say. We generally borrow money in the spring to plant our crops, put in all the inputs, and there again, with fertilizer prices, now with the tariffs going higher. At the end of the year, that's the struggle.

We sell our crops. Generally, we can easily pay off our bills and then have what's left over to live off of. And when you can't even pay the bills off, that's not a pleasant place to be. I think a lot of people listening might be wondering, how can Americans support you and other farmers? And how are you persisting? I know you said you were limping into retirement, but you're still doing the work every single day. That's a great question. And, you know, as we move forward, we have to make some better choices with the policies that we choose.

I don't know. There aren't any really easy answers. I'll afraid, Jane, on that. But we do appreciate support the general public. That does mean a lot. But, yeah, it's hard. And there's people all over that are, you know, small business owners and others that are struggling, too. so it isn't just farmers, you know, it's, there's a lot of challenges out there right now, sadly.

Phil, thank you so much for taking the time to join me. Oh, you're very welcome. Great to be with you. That was my conversation with Phil Verges, a longtime farmer in Western Wisconsin. We'll get to more of the news in the moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcast, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a day is brought to you by Bambas.

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Head over to bambas.com slash day and use code day for 20% off your first purchase. That's BOM, BAS.com slash day, code day at checkout. Here's what else we're following today. Head aligns. The controllers are wearing thin. And again, they're taking second jobs. They're out there looking, can I drive Uber? Or can I find another source of income to make ends meet until Democrats stop with the radical push for illegal migrants and actually open up the government?

Speaking to Fox News's Maria Barteroma on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, blamed Democrats for the government shutdown that continues to leave air traffic controllers without their paychecks. Flights to Los Angeles International Airport were briefly halted this weekend when the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a ground stop due to a critical shortage of air traffic controllers. Other major airports like Phoenix and Houston also saw delays, with the FAA warning that staffing problems could impact New York, Dallas, and Philadelphia. With the government shutdown approaching the one-month mark, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stammered through questions Sunday with NBC's Kristen Welker on Meet the Press.

We're now in the second longest shutdown in U.S. history. When will President Trump meet with Democrats to try to bring this shutdown to a close and get federal workers their pay? A-check's back again, Mr. Secretary. Well, Chris, I'm going to have to reject the premise of your question. Why do President Trump have to meet with Democrats? Democrats just need to go into the Senate and vote to end the shutdown. Sure, he can reject the premise, however petulant,

but he cannot deny the fact that key federal health data is stalled as flu season approaches, or that funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Snap, will run dry in less than a week. Without a deal, states may be unable to issue full benefits for November, threatening food security for roughly 42 million Americans. And in a cruel design to apply pressure to Democrats, the U.S. Department of Agriculture threatened to withhold billions of dollars in contingency funding if the shutdown stretches into November.

With flights grounded and snap about to, snap, it feels like the only thing up and running is good old-fashioned American blame. Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy reacted to the reveal of Trump's secret military payroll donor on CNN State of the Nation Sunday. He is refusing to negotiate is because he likes the fact that the government is closed because he thinks he can exercise king-like powers. He can open up the parts of the government that he wants. He can pay the employees who are loyal to him.

I mean, this is a leader who is trying to transition our government from a democracy to something much closer to a totalitarian state. And so this is part of what happens in totalitarian states. the leader, the regime only, decides what things get funded and what don't, often in coordination with their oligarch friends. Anonymous sources told the New York Times, Timothy Mellon, a reclusive billionaire, gave the Trump administration $130 million to pay members of the military as the government shutdown continues.

Mellon is reportedly a financial backer of Trump. Experts warned that Trump's continued attempts to shift the power of the purse to the executive branch, rather than Congress, sets a dangerous precedent. Trump told reporters about the donation Thursday and said the money came from one of his friends saying, quote, that's what I call a patriot. And that's what I call probably illegal, man, I'm not the only one. A spokesperson for the conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, told the Guardian, quote, there is really no good legal justification for moving the money around in this way. The Pentagon confirmed that they received $130 million on Friday, which is just a fraction of

the roughly $8 billion the Trump administration took from the Pentagon's research and development budget in order to make military payroll earlier this month. Former White House Office of Management and Budget official Bobby Cogan called the stunt, quote, super duper illegal. I mean, let's take, for example, this $40 billion bailout for Argentina. That's probably one of the grossest things I've ever seen. And I have no idea who is telling our great president, our America first president, that this is a good idea.

Because it's honestly, it's a punch in the gut. to all of our American cattle ranchers, and they are furious and rightfully so. Yes, why would those evil people tell our beautiful president such lies? In a conversation with Tucker Carlson, Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Green lamented Trump's plan to quadruple U.S. beef imports from Argentina, which she has decided wasn't Trump's plan at all. Trump claims bringing in beef from Argentina would reduce prices in the U.S. while bailing out the bankrupt South American nation.

The plan is stoking panic among ranchers and concern from Republican lawmakers, so what's their beef? Stanched Trump ally, Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, not to be confused with grass-fed, said this during his weekly call with agricultural reporters last week. The message to the president is pretty simple. Undercutting American beef is not putting America first. To be fair, Trump never specified which hemisphere of America he intended to, put first. Federal inflation data released Friday indicates beef prices are up 15% over the past year because of a combination of environmental factors and tariffs imposed by Trump. The policy, seemingly

made on the hoof, comes on the heels of Trump approving billions of dollars in aid for Argentina to bolster his ally, Argentinian president Javier Malay, as he faces elections while presiding over an economic crisis. Needless to say, U.S. beef producers and their allies in Congress are pushing the administration to take a different approach to support the beef industry. The only group strongly in support of the deal, my guess would be American cows. If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I'd be apoplectic. Yeah, let's think about the president. And I would say, hey, listen, I serve on the Intelligence Committee.

He serves as a senior Democrat on defense. This is typical consultation. It's not permission, but it is, hey, I want to let you know this is happening and hear the details of what's happening and here's why and what. And here's what we know. Here's what we know about each one of these. Incidents that has occurred in the people that are there. That's important. We're all elected officials.

We're in a co-equal branch of government, and we've got to be able to have that kind of coordination. Oklahoma Republican Senator James Langford shockingly agreed with his fellow guest, Delaware Democratic Senator Chris Coons, on C-SPAN ceasefire Friday, saying that the Trump administration should consult Congress about its ongoing military strikes

on alleged drug smuggling boats. Meanwhile, President Trump told reporters Thursday that he has no plans to ask Congress for its approval as he continues to carry out strikes in the region. Well, I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay, we're going to kill them. You know, they're going to be like dead, okay.

You know, like a normal democracy. So far, the Trump administration has confirmed 10 fatal strikes in alleged drugboats, mostly targeted in the Caribbean Sea. Until last week, when the U.S. military carried out two strikes in the East. Eastern Pacific Ocean. And on Friday, the Pentagon announced it sent its most advanced aircraft carrier to the waters of South America. Another escalation in the not yet official war that Trump keeps calling a war. On CBS's Face Nation Sunday, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was asked if that deployment means land strikes are planned. Yeah, I think that's a real possibility. I think President

Trump's made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug trafficker that it's time for him to go, that Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narco-terrorists for too long. And President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia. And Colombia? Let's try to handle one undeclared war at a time. According to the New York Times, the Senate will have a chance to vote on a bipartisan war powers resolution that would require congressional approval for military actions within or against Venezuela. A previous resolution to stop the Trump administration from carrying out boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea without congressional authorization failed earlier this month.

And that's the news. Before we go, CrookedCon is just over two weeks away. As you may have heard, there are a ton of new speakers added to the November 7th lineup. Adam Mochler, Tim Miller, Pramila Jayapal, Jan Saki, Simone Sanders Townsend, but we are finally announcing the schedule. I'll be hosting a panel on policy priorities for a progressive future, with three prominent policy thinkers. Democratic strategist Walid Shahid, near Tandon of the Center for American Progress, and writer Matthew Iglesias of Slow Boring.

Vote Save America will also have an action hub that will come with its own set of programming. Stay tuned for more details on that. Make sure to take a look at the full schedule and be sure to grab tickets if you haven't at crookedcon.com. There aren't many left. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe,

leave a review, bad for Prince Andrew, who's now just Prince Andrew, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, not just about how Prince Andrew has voluntarily stopped using all of his titles and honors, like the Duke of York and His Royal Highness, after a, quote,

discussion with King Charles III, after his many, many ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were revealed, like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston, and the last time at Duke lost his title was in 1919 after the Duke of Albany fought on the German side

during the First World War. I wonder what his emails would have been like. What Today is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Four and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Sean Ali, Gina Pollock, and Caitlin Plummer.

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