Max Armstrong is no stranger to the Porter County Fair, or any fair, for that matter.
“It’s a very personal thing. I love fairs and meeting with people,” the veteran agricultural journalist said July 26 between talking about the benefits of 4-H and Future Farmers of America for young people, and trade sanctions and the looming $12 billion farm bill.
Armstrong, 65, is an Indiana native and Purdue University graduate who was a longtime broadcaster for WGN Radio. He is currently the director of broadcasting for Farm Progress, where he co-hosts “This Week in Agribusiness” with Orion Samuelson in a partnership that has spanned much of his career.
He took time to pose with representatives from local sponsors of “Take Care, We’re Farming Out Here” signs, a public safety program now in its 15th year, before going on to meet with 4-H members, among other activities.
Armstrong said he and Samuelson did noon broadcasts at the fair a couple of times and it had been “way too long” since he was last here. He added he’s been to Kouts and various corners of Porter County in the past.
“It’s neat to see a lot of corn and bean fields, even with all the development. There’s still a lot of ag here,” Armstrong said, noting the growth and change he saw as he took Indiana-49 to the fairgrounds.
The benefits of 4-H and FFA are obvious, he said, and stand out on resumes, particularly if members were in leadership posts.
“When you shake hands, there’s a confidence, a firm handshake,” he said, adding there’s something about that leadership development. “I think it’s missing in some of our urban areas.”
A good ag economy is critical to small towns, he said, providing the stimulus for new pickup trucks on Main Street, and funds for schools and other community institutions.
The $12 billion farm bill is coming up “in a very difficult climate,” he said, adding that when Congress passed the last bill in 2014, no one was worried about the safety net of crop insurance.
Versions in the House and Senate, Armstrong said, differ in how much they tighten funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which makes up 80 percent of the funding and also includes school lunch programs and other assistance.
The bill, he said, includes a commodity-buying program for surplus, which isn’t new, and promotes exports, which, in addition to corn, include cotton, peanuts and tobacco, something the ag economy needs.
Armstrong said the U.S. has already lost market share “forever.” Brazil has picked up some of the soybean market and this winter will grow more acres of the crop than the U.S.
“Trade sanctions are not good and it’s been bipartisan lunacy,” he said, adding that while the latest have come up under GOP President Donald Trump, then-President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, embargoed grain sales to the former Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan.
“It hurt us immensely,” Armstrong said.
Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
