Co-ops Face Soaring Export Costs

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Director of Government Affairs and Sustainability Zach Gihorski says farmer cooperatives are still struggling to bounce back from earlier trade disruptions. “Most of our co-ops are just upset from the last Trump 1.0 China trade deal,” said Gihorski. “They’ve lost markets, and they still haven’t had a chance to restore those markets.” Beyond lost export opportunities, Gihorski said ag co-ops are also facing higher transportation costs. “There are these fees on the Jones Act and the shipping containers and the boats, we’ve had a co-op say that because of some of the things that happened, they’ve had $1 million a month in increased fees.”