Ben Brewer / Bloomberg via Getty Images |
Abdul El-Sayed just unveiled a plan to help Michigan’s struggling small farms, making him the latest Democratic Senate hopeful to court farmers as rising costs weaken Republicans’ grip on rural America.
Farmers are under serious financial strain. Diesel prices, pushed up by the war in Iran, hit a record national average of about $6.52 a gallon last week, according to AAA. Fertilizer prices spiked this spring, just as farmers were buying for planting season, as the war bottlenecked the global supply. But even before the war, many farms were on precarious financial footing.
Now, with the midterms weeks away, Democrats in several Senate races see an opening in farm country, where their party has long struggled. |
