Soybeans and coffee: How tariffs are impacting some in the Mid-South
According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Gibson County has 777 farms covering more than 287,000 acres. Shelby County is home to 716 farms across roughly 116,000 acres. (Mark Vancleave/AP file)
About two hours northwest of Memphis in Gibson County, Todd Littleton raises corn, wheat and soybeans on his third-generation farm.
Farmers, he said, are eternal optimists.
“We have to be. It’s always going to be ‘better next year,’” Littleton said. “If we didn’t feel like that, it would kind of seem hopeless.”
He called this year a “rough patch,” due in part to recent tariffs and global trade. For larger-scale producers such as Littleton Farms, tariffs impact both the cost of production and the global market value of those goods.
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Ellen Chamberlain
Ellen Chamberlain is a global citizen who is happy to call Memphis her forever home. The Michigan native has worked in media for nearly 25 years as a radio broadcaster, journalist and ghostwriter. As The Daily Memphian’s food and restaurant writer, she gives readers inside perspectives of their favorite restaurants and the people behind them, suggestions for the best bites around town and the latest food news from in and around Shelby County.
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