NORTH TAZEWELL, W.Va. – As tariffs remain a controversial topic in the United States, a group of local farmers are welcoming the idea in hopes of leveling the playing field in the goat meat industry.
“America has so much to gain if our government would just look at the imports that’s coming in as opposed to the exports going out,” said April Wilson, part owner of American Goats.
The area’s Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent, John Blankenship, told WVVA that the rules farmers face locally are different from those in other countries, giving foreign farmers a leg-up.
“It does make it difficult when you’re in an equal market with someone else that is not required to live by the…same laws and restrictions that might be set forth for food products like our livestock products,” explained Blankenship.
That is why the owners of American Goats in Tazewell County hope that tariffs on international imports will bolster the market at home for their products.
“We’re not asking for handouts, we’re asking for some help to stave off the competition that…really has it so much easier than we do,” said Scott Ball, a founding member of American Goats.
That sentiment is in the spotlight for farmers across the county, as some current restrictions inside our borders may be weakening local sales.
“One of the things that we’ve been focusing on is the competition that we have with a global market, a lot of other places don’t have restrictions and things that we have here in the united states to produce,” said Blankenship.
We will have to wait until these tariffs go into effect to see what impact they will have on our local farming economy.
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