Only weeks before moderators pressed Iowa’s two U.S. Senate candidates on the price of corn and soybeans in a televised debate, Theresa Greenfield talked about those two commodity metrics on two Greene County farms.
As she checked out the corn crop on Chris Henning’s farm south of Jefferson, and walked among the wind turbines near Dana with long-time ag businessman Tom Wind, Greenfield, the Democratic candidate, chatted about corn and beans, and among other things, what the actual prices were that week and what farmers see as the break-even numbers.
“I’ve been listening to corn and soybean prices since I grew up on the farm,” Greenfield said in a phone interview with the Times Herald Wednesday afternoon. “We don’t even put those in my debate prep books because, you know what, it’s just part of what I pay attention to best I can.”
Des Moines Register/KCCI-TV debate moderators Oct. 15 asked Greenfield the break-even price for a bushel of corn in Iowa.
“Well, a bushel of corn is going for about $3.68 today, $3.69. And break even really just depends on the amount of debt someone has,” Greenfield answered. “I suspect there’s farmers that are breaking even at that price. However, if their yields are down 50 percent, that’s certainly not going to cover it for them. I’ll tell you we’ve had low commodity prices for too long. They’ve been going-out-of-business prices.”
Her answer closely resembled comments she made on Henning’s farm.
Debate moderator Ron Steele asked Ernst, “What’s the break-even price for soybeans in Iowa? You grew up on a farm. You should know this.”
“It depends on what the inputs are, but probably about $5.50,” Ernst responded.
“Well you’re a couple dollars off, I think here, because it’s $10.05,” Steele said. “But we’ll move on to something else.”
In the Times Herald interview, Greenfield said the commodity figures are central to what she talks about in the campaign each day.
Greenfield, a native of a southern Minnesota farm who now is a Des Moines businesswoman, went through the farm crisis of the 1980s as a girl in Bricelyn, Minnesota (population today of 369), and knows the value of boosting commodity prices and creating other income on the farm, she said.
“I’m a businesswoman, and I understand that you have to be able to make a profit and keep the lights on,” Greenfield said. “I grew up during that farm crisis. I watched families go bankrupt.”
Today, farmers are challenged because of Trump administration trade policies U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Red Oak, supports, Greenfield said.
The result: the price of corn and beans are too low, Greenfield said, adding that’s one reason they are so top of mind with her as she talks to Iowans.
Greenfield conducted the phone interview with the Times Herald as her campaign suspended public events Wednesday, including a tour planned at Kitchen Concepts in downtown Carroll, because of COVID-19 concerns.
“We’ve learned that some members of our campaign came into contact with someone last week who subsequently tested positive for coronavirus,” Greenfield’s communications director Sam Newton said in a statement. “While masks and social distancing measures are required at all of our in-person events, our campaign is temporarily pausing our RV tour, including today’s events, at the advice of medical professionals in order to take appropriate precautions to ensure we protect the health and safety of Iowans and our team. Theresa regularly gets tested for COVID-19 and recently tested negative.”
October 29, 2020 at 09:00PM
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Greenfield says childhood on farm prepped her for corn-and-bean price question - Carroll Daily Times Herald
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