With beer drinking down in US, barley farmers now fear tariffs

Heather Schlitz

Tue, Mar 18, 2025, 4:05 AM 3 min read

By Heather Schlitz

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Overdue loans and mounting involvement payments often measurement connected Montana barley grower Mitch Konen arsenic helium bales hay and loads trailers astatine his distant workplace overlooking the snow-capped Rocky Mountains.

As outpouring sunshine warms the fields, Konen, 65, and different barley farmers interest tariffs volition instrumentality distant important export markets and summation the outgo to turn the grains, adjacent arsenic sinking U.S. brew depletion has slashed request for barley.

"Down present connected the workplace we’re already stretched beauteous bladed financially," said Konen, who is besides vice president of the National Barley Growers Association. "It makes america wonderment whether oregon not we tin adjacent enactment successful business."

Roughly fractional of Konen's barley is destined for Mexico, wherever it volition beryllium turned into beer. Some volition beryllium shipped backmost to the U.S. successful bottles of Modelo, Corona and Pacifico.

Mexico is the 3rd largest importer of U.S. barley and the biggest importer of U.S. malt, made from germinating kernels of barley and a cardinal constituent successful beer. If Mexico issues tariffs successful retaliation oregon switches to buying barley from different trading partners, experts accidental it could woody different economical stroke to American farmers arsenic U.S. consumers progressively ditch beer.

Canada, the largest importer of U.S. malt barley, issued tariffs against U.S. barley and different cultivation goods that went into effect connected March 4. Frayne Olson, harvest economist astatine North Dakota State University, said farmers are disquieted that tariffs could decimate U.S. barley exports to Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said his back-and-forth tariffs against large trading partners are intended to curb the travel of amerciable drugs and migrants into the U.S., and has downplayed the marketplace impacts for U.S. companies and consumers.

"The radical who wage for tariffs are the farmers," said barley husbandman Steve Sheffels, vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association. "We turn mode much barley than we tin perchance consume, truthful if those markets spell away, past farmers are going to beryllium competing for a overmuch much constricted fig of buyers."

Costs for fertilizer, which is mostly sourced from Canada, volition emergence with tariffs. Prices for imported harvest chemicals from China person already risen due to the fact that of tariffs that took effect connected February 4.

"There's a sinking feeling and a feeling of dread that things are bad, and things are going to enactment atrocious for a while," Sheffels said. "We are frightened astir to decease astir tariffs."

Beer depletion successful the U.S. has been sliding and successful 2024 it deed its lowest level successful implicit 40 years arsenic much Americans chose different alcoholic beverages, said Bart Watson, main economist astatine the Brewers Association. Recently, hard seltzer drinks and canned cocktails person posed peculiarly bruising contention to beer.