OCT. 22, 2018 | The low morning temperature of Charleston, S.C. (56 degrees F) matched the high temperature at noon in Minneapolis, Minn., when the crew touched down to explore what people in the upper Midwest think of what’s happening in America.
During a ride to visit a family farm outside Breckenridge, Minn., it was easy to see how the winds come sweeping down the plain with mile after mile of flat, dark earth being turned by plows injecting fertilizer or by harvesters reaping corn for as far as the eye could see.
During a dinner at the Hasbargen farm, guests told Bruce Hawker how they were a spot of blue among the mostly red rural part of Minnesota. They worried that President Trump’s aggressive trade war with China could end up financially crippling small towns that depend on agriculture to keep their areas humming with economic activity. If farmers can’t sell their soybeans, corn, wheat and sugar beets in the next few months, the results could be disastrous, they said.
Visiting rural western Minnesota
NEXT POST: Day 13 — Visiting with more farmers in a North Dakota diner.
