Chad Hart, associate professor, was quoted in the Dec. 26, 2019 New York Times story, "At Each End of Pacific, Skepticism Over China Farm Purchases" about the administration claim that China has agreed to increase American ag imports to $40 billion according to U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.
“History has never been even close to that level," said Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University. "There's no clear path to get us there in one year.”
This story was also covered in:
The Washington Post
MySanAntonia.com
Hart was also quoted in a Dec. 26 story on KMAland radio, "Both bumpy and bright spots in Iowa’s economy this decade."
“In 2017, they updated the Census of Agriculture. We only had 86,000, so we have seen the number of farms shrink,” Hart says. “That means the average size of the farm has grown…It takes more money to farm these days. We’ve seen incomes rise, but we’ve also seen expenses rise.”
Hart was also quoted in a Dec. 22 Quad-City Times story, "After a wet two years, 400 Iowa farmers offer to take 41,000 acres out of crop production."
"Those historic precipitation levels and severe floods have forced Iowa farmers to consider taking land out of production," said Chad Hart, an associate professor of economics who studies crop markets at Iowa State University. "(The year) 2019 was a wet year, 2018 was a wet year. I think that created a greater incentive for farmers to really look at this program and possibly apply for it,"
A story on China.org.cn, "Yearender: 2019 sees roller-coaster ride for U.S. industries, consumers amid trade uncertainty" quotes Hart:
A solution to the trade disputes between the United States and China is vital to the two countries and the stability of the world economy, Chad Hart, an agricultural economist who teaches at Iowa State University and a longtime U.S.-China trade watcher, told Xinhua.
"The longer this dispute goes on, the larger the losses become, because the damage continues to accumulate," he said.