For almost two years now, we’ve been going backward.
Minnesota Farmers, Manufacturers Fall on Hard Times
Many Minnesota small businesses are
in trouble.
Low commodity prices have hit
farmers and manufacturing companies in Minnesota particularly hard.
Some, such as Minnesota dairy farmer
John Quaal, suffer because it costs more to produce his crop—milk in Quaal’s
case—than he makes from it. He has lost $300,000 in the past year, MPR News reported.
“For almost two years now, we’ve
been going backward,” Quaal told MPR. “You’ve got to learn to deal with it I
guess. It’s just the way it is.”
He isn’t the only one who is struggling throughout the state. Corn prices dropped from $6.08 per bushel in 2012 to $3.75 in 2015, the Star Tribune reported. Farmers need to be making about $4 per bushel to make producing corn profitable, according to the Star Tribune. The trouble extends to Minnesota manufacturers as well.
“Many
Minnesota-based manufacturers such as 3M Co., Polaris Industries, Graco and
Tennant, reported first quarter earnings results last month that showed they
are still affected by unfavorable currency exchange rates and by the global
slowdown of key trading partners in China, Brazil, Canada and Japan,” the Star
Tribune reported.
But
efforts are being made to help get these industries back on track. The U.S.
Department of Commerce is going to tax imported commodities
such as steel in an attempt to level the playing field for American
manufacturers, which would be beneficial for many workers in the Iron Range,
according to the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
“As
farmers, we’re pretty optimistic and plan for the best, and I don’t see this
year as being any different,” Bruce Schmoll, a Minnesota corn and soybean
farmer, told the Star Tribune.
