Farming and ranching in Montana, for me, is not a weekend hobby; it’s how I make my living, just like countless other Montana farmers and ranchers. In fact, it’s how this state makes a living, too – agriculture is Montana’s No. 1 industry. Montana farmers and ranchers play the vital role of feeding not just our communities, but the world. Many producers in this state are the third, fourth or fifth generation on their family’s farm or ranch. That legacy is a source of pride a person cannot fully understand until they’ve experienced it.
Matt Rosendale wants to claim a part of our proud agricultural legacy in Montana. After making his money subdividing agricultural land in Maryland, he bought himself a ranch in Glendive and immediately started running for office. And at some point during that process, Rosendale started calling himself a rancher, posing in front of other folks’ cows and red barns.
You may have noticed recently that Rosendale, who once eagerly talked about his life on the ranch, has been a little more quiet about his “cowboy credentials” lately. That’s because as it turns out, Rosendale’s never owned any cattle, his brand expired before he ever used it, and he leases out his land to real farmers and ranchers.
But any Montana farmer or rancher could have told you that Rosendale was a fake rancher long before it was exposed in a news story. The giveaway? Rosendale’s strong support for policies that hurt Montana agriculture.
Montana produces the best grain and the best cattle in the industry, and produces far more than could ever be consumed by the 1 million people living in Montana. Farmers and ranchers here rely on being able to export our beef, or our grain, or whatever we produce, to other states – and to other countries. International markets, which sometimes take generations to open up, help Montana farmers and ranchers to make a living.
So when the administration announced that they would be rolling out new tariffs and risking a trade war with some of those international markets, Montana agriculture got anxious.
This is an uncertain industry to begin with. We deal with constantly changing weather, ever-rising input costs, and an already uncertain global market. What Montana producers need in light of the ever-present volatility in our industry is some stability in market access. We’ve spent years and many check-off dollars developing markets for our products, and seeing that legacy threatened by a petulant trade war is putting family farms and ranches at great financial risk.
Montana farmers and ranchers all across the state have been speaking out against these dangerous tariffs – but Rosendale won’t listen. He offered a full-throated endorsement of the administration’s tariffs and ignored the voices of Montana farmers and ranchers who said that this would jeopardize their livelihoods.
Rosendale recently tried to launch an “ag advisory board,” which was branded as a way for Montana farmers and ranchers to have their voices heard by Rosendale and his campaign. The outcome was disappointing, but not surprising.
The farmers and ranchers sitting on that agricultural board told Rosendale that the trade war was hurting their operations. They told him that they had seen “immediate hardships from tariffs.” But as soon as Rosendale left the room, he reported a very different story. Rosendale said that the farmers and ranchers he spoke with were “very confident” about the tariffs helping with trade agreements in the long term. Evidently he’s OK with our state’s farmers and ranchers having their very livelihood used as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations that appear to be escalating and worsening, rather than drawing to a beneficial close.
Someone needs to ask Matt Rosendale his opinion about the administration’s trade “relief” package that was just announced. Farmers have lost as much as $1/bushel of wheat or more since the tariff war has escalated, and the response has been to offer farmers, currently, $.07 per bushel of wheat for the trouble. Ranchers have been left out of the relief package thus far. Montana farmers and ranchers don’t want a nakedly political attempt at a bailout, they want stable markets for their products.
Family farm agriculture has been the backbone of our state’s economy for generations, and continues to be to this day. Not only will our economy suffer more and more the longer these trade disputes continue, the very future of the family farm will be at risk.
Matt Rosendale can’t possibly understand that, because he does not make his living raising crops and livestock, no matter what he says. Montana needs an experienced hand representing us in Washington right now, to give voice to the perils facing agriculture. We need someone in the ring to fight for our interests in uncertain times.
Rosendale is not that fighter. He’s shown that he would rather cave to his party leaders than to be an independent voice for Montana farmers and ranchers. Maybe in Maryland, no one can tell the difference between a real rancher and a fake one – but here in Montana, it matters.
Jeff Bangs is a fourth-generation farmer and rancher from Inverness.