GREAT FALLS, Mont. - The escalating trade fight between the Trump administration and Canada is just the latest headwind facing American farmers who were already dealing with soaring fuel and fertilizer prices.
After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian products, earlier this month Ottawa imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. goods, including farm equipment.
"I'd like to consider buying a new drill and I'm also looking at grain bins that come out of Canada and I'm afraid I won't be able to afford them," says Steve Sheffels, a local wheat farmer.
He farms in what's known as the Golden Triangle, an area in north-central Montana that's one of the most productive wheat and barley growing regions in the U.S.
Touching three Canadian provinces, the economies and cultures of Montana and Canada are largely intertwined. Canada is hands down the state's biggest trading partner, accounting for $1 billion in cross-border sales, according to the Montana World Trade Center at the University of Montana.
"Canadian companies also purchase Montana cattle and they send them up to Canada where they're fed out, and when they're up there a lot of times they're eating Montana barley," says Brigitta Miranda-Freer, the center's executive director.
Montana farmers had turned to Canada for select equipment and supplies due to the favorable exchange rates. But now most farm equipment is subject to a 15% or higher retaliatory tariff.
This is just the latest economic stress for grain farmers who have endured generally flat commodity prices since the 1970s and recent rising interest rates, as well as the second trade war spanning two Trump administrations that's threatened longtime business deals.
"Things are more volatile," says Lee Dahlman, a fourth-generation wheat farmer and cattle rancher near the tiny town of Dutton, Mont. "The uncertainty is what bothers me."
But for Dahlman, all of this uncertainty underscores how farmers need to adapt and control what they can in order to be less susceptible to geopolitics.
"As long as you're smart and wise about it, you know, we don't have to buy out of Canada," he says.
Dahlman's lately been investing in soil-based probiotics he'll add during planting so he doesn't have to buy as much fertilizer. Where and when he can, he's also rotating in chickpeas and lentils, crops that naturally inject nitrates into the soils. Still, he hopes this latest tariff battle between the U.S. and its longtime neighbor and ally will end in a stable deal.
Support for Trump complicates things
"I think I've got this administration figured out," Dahlman says. "A lot of it comes out pretty harsh, pretty quick, pretty fast. But it usually softens as time goes."
Montana voted overwhelmingly for President Trump three times which makes the politics around tariffs complicated.
"It's just sad that food has to be a bargaining chip," says Jillien Streit, director of the Montana Department of Agriculture.
Streit, who also runs a family farm with her husband near the Canadian border, has been pushing producers here to shift away from monocrops and explore more regional food markets closer to home.
"These tariffs are very trying at different times," Streit says. "But there's also opportunity that comes with it."
Steve Sheffels, who is also president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, figures he's saved tens of thousands of dollars on inputs after investing in new equipment that uses computers to more selectively drop pesticides and fertilizer like liquid nitrogen on his fields.
But he doesn't mince words when it comes to the deteriorating relations between Washington D.C. and Ottawa. For him, it's personal. His wife is Canadian.
"You don't treat your neighbors like this," Sheffels says.
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