While ongoing trade disputes between China and the United States have not helped the sluggish agricultural economy, the general manager of Two Rivers Cooperative believes they aren’t all to blame for the current struggles many farmers face.

Tracy Gathman tells KRLS News it’s been a multiple year stretch for many crop farmers of having break-even–and more likely, losing years financially as commodity prices remained below input costs. Gathman says there still needs to be a resolution to the tariffs, however, as no economy wins if the global powers of the United States and Chinese struggle.

“Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail, and at the end of that, everyone will come out in better shape,” he says. “If the Chinese economy begins to struggle, if the United States begins to struggle–it affects everyone around the globe.”

Hear more about the state of local agriculture on today’s In Depth with Dr. Bob Leonard.