This week, Crookston Minnesota farmer Tim Dufault testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee on the impact of the U.S. China trade war. He says the tariffs have caused a lot of damage to his farming operation.

He says the effect of the tariffs damaged market gains in China that took a long time to develop and cultivate.

Dufault says the best fix to the problem is to completely eliminate the tariffs.

Dufault says he like other farmers have to deal with negative weather effects all the time and have risk management programs to help protect them, however he says there is no protection against tariffs.

Dufault also says while the Market Facilitation Program payments have helped, they don’t make producers whole and most farmers would rather get their income from the market and trade rather than government assistance.