Ag Tribes Report: Did TX Farm Bureau sellout to CCP? Will Trump kill corn price? CO2 Eminent Domain?

About this episode

In this Ag Tribes Report episode, Vance Crowe hosts Rupert Williams ("Snark Asosa"), CEO of the commodity-prediction platform Go Farm Yourself and a 25-year veteran commodity trader, for a rapid-fire breakdown of agricultural policy news. They open with Trump's proposed tariffs (10% on all imports, 60% on Chinese goods, up to 100% on cars) and debate whether a second Trump term means a repeat trade war, recalling how China's soybean/corn export share collapsed from 62% to 18% during the first trade war before partial recovery and farmer indemnity payments; Williams notes farmers overall did fine given the payments despite lower cash prices, while Harris/Democrat policy remains an unclear "unburdened by what has been" abstraction with likely continuity of Vilsack as Ag Secretary. The pair then dig into a Texas Farm Bureau controversy over a proposal requiring disclosure (not prohibition) of foreign land purchases from adversarial nations, discussing foreign ownership of US meatpacking capacity (Williams claims ~half of cattle packing and a third of hog production tied to Chinese ownership, implicitly referencing Smithfield) and comparing it to the TikTok ban debate — arguing food security deserves at least as much scrutiny as social media ownership. They cover speculator criticism amid low corn prices ($4.01 vs. $5 breakeven), with Williams defending speculators as a necessary, symmetric part of price discovery (framing farmers holding unsold grain as themselves "long speculators"). The final topic is a proposed Midwest CO2 pipeline (Summit Carbon) reclassified as a public utility enabling eminent domain over private farmland, which prompted a successful South Dakota ballot measure backed by figures like Amanda Radke and Jim Eschenbaum to restrict this state power grab; Williams expresses skepticism of climate alarmism ("I've been told since I was 10... we're 24 years past that") while acknowledging carbon credit markets are real and driven partly by corporate net-zero pledges (citing Bill Gates's farmland holdings as a hedged bet). Williams's "unaligned opinion" is that declining US share of global grain exports (from ~60% to 31.5% since he started trading) means farmers should focus on domestic consumption (ethanol, SAF, renewable fuels) rather than exports, given geopolitical risk with China/Taiwan; Vance partially disagrees, noting renewable fuel mandates effectively force domestic consumers to subsidize corn demand. The episode closes with each naming a "worthy adversary" to follow on Twitter/X — Williams picks a rival cattle-futures trader ("Meat Idea"), Vance picks Adam Jones/Kansas Angus.

“During the trade war we were 62% of the exports to China and then our market share went down to 18%... he made payments to farmers from some of that tariff money.”

“Almost half of it currently in cattle [packing capacity is foreign-owned]... a third of the hogs on feed in the United States are owned by a Chinese entity through a certain corporation, which will go unnamed.”

“The virtue signaling corporations of the world, the Amazons that have pledged to go net zero, Google whatever, your tech company... this is one of the reasons I think Bill Gates has bought up all this land.”

Key moments

• early ~5-15%: Trump tariff plans and 2018 trade-war recap — 62%→18% China export share collapse and farmer indemnity payments (money, institutions).
• middle ~25-40%: Texas Farm Bureau foreign-land-ownership disclosure controversy; foreign (Chinese) ownership of US meatpacking/hog production discussed as national security risk (institutions, trust).
• middle ~45-55%: Speculator debate on low corn prices; framing unsold-grain-holding farmers as speculators themselves (money).
• late ~58-73%: Summit Carbon CO2 pipeline reclassified as public utility for eminent domain; South Dakota ballot pushback led by Amanda Radke and Jim Eschenbaum (institutions, bubbles).
• late ~75-90%: Williams's "unaligned opinion" — declining US export share (60%→31.5%) argues for domestic consumption focus over export dependence (windows, money).