“太多美國(guó)農(nóng)民不高興，而且隨著爭(zhēng)端持久化，更多人對(duì)未來(lái)感到困惑?！泵绹?guó)艾奧瓦州一位前眾議員在他寫(xiě)給中國(guó)媒體《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》的信中如是說(shuō)。

6月17日，《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》刊登了新華社的英文深度報(bào)道，題為《洪災(zāi)與美中貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端給美國(guó)中西部農(nóng)民帶來(lái)災(zāi)難》（Midwest farmers devastated by historic floods, ongoing US-China trade tensions）。文章客觀反映了自然災(zāi)害與貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端，尤其是后者給美國(guó)農(nóng)民帶來(lái)的災(zāi)難。文章提到，自今年3月底以來(lái)，美國(guó)中西部地區(qū)連綿不絕的水患讓當(dāng)?shù)氐霓r(nóng)民叫苦不迭。密蘇里農(nóng)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)布萊克·赫斯特表示，如此大范圍、席卷整個(gè)中西部地區(qū)的嚴(yán)重洪災(zāi)，在他40多年務(wù)農(nóng)的記憶中未曾有過(guò)。除了天災(zāi)，美國(guó)政府挑起的對(duì)華貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端更加劇了美國(guó)中西部農(nóng)民的困境。貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端造成美國(guó)對(duì)華大豆出口大幅下降，大豆價(jià)格走低，農(nóng)民收入大打折扣，不少農(nóng)民面臨經(jīng)濟(jì)困難。雖然今年5月下旬美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部宣布向農(nóng)民提供最高達(dá)160億美元的援助計(jì)劃，但受災(zāi)的農(nóng)民對(duì)記者表示，比起補(bǔ)貼，他們更想要的是穩(wěn)定的市場(chǎng)。

文章發(fā)表后不久，《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》收到了美國(guó)艾奧瓦州前眾議員格雷?庫(kù)薩克（Greg Cusack）的來(lái)信。庫(kù)薩克在來(lái)信中開(kāi)門(mén)見(jiàn)山地說(shuō)：“太多美國(guó)農(nóng)民不高興，而且隨著爭(zhēng)端持久化，更多人對(duì)未來(lái)感到困惑?！?/p>

庫(kù)薩克指出，由于“共和黨人慣于利用單個(gè)政治問(wèn)題大做文章，往傷口撒鹽，以及民主黨賴以生存的農(nóng)村地區(qū)日益凋零”，美國(guó)農(nóng)民因此頗感無(wú)奈，覺(jué)得無(wú)路可走。而民主黨遠(yuǎn)未找到農(nóng)業(yè)或農(nóng)村的一攬子解決方案，這就讓情況更加糟糕。

庫(kù)薩克在信中還表示，《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》發(fā)表的新華社及其他相關(guān)文章對(duì)美國(guó)農(nóng)民等問(wèn)題的報(bào)道是很有廣度的，也是符合事實(shí)的。相比之下，美國(guó)一些媒體對(duì)美國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)外新聞的報(bào)道非常欠缺，遠(yuǎn)不能滿足哪怕只有一般知識(shí)背景的讀者的需求。

他在信中還描述了美國(guó)社會(huì)日益分化的種種表現(xiàn)，并指出：“我希望貴報(bào)繼續(xù)報(bào)道美國(guó)的這些問(wèn)題，盡管目前美國(guó)與中國(guó)有貿(mào)易摩擦。這些問(wèn)題說(shuō)明了美國(guó)社會(huì)身陷窘境，它們包括：學(xué)生債務(wù)居高不下（畢業(yè)后也是債臺(tái)高筑）、工資大多停滯不前、財(cái)富差距拉大、農(nóng)村陷入困境?！?/p>

這不是庫(kù)薩克第一次給《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》寫(xiě)信了。《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》副總編王勇告訴澎湃新聞，此前，庫(kù)薩克讀了《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》發(fā)表的有關(guān)上海建設(shè)美麗鄉(xiāng)村的深度評(píng)論之后，特別來(lái)信稱贊中國(guó)在習(xí)近平總書(shū)記帶領(lǐng)下，為振興農(nóng)村做出的巨大努力，并指出美國(guó)兩黨對(duì)農(nóng)村的支持是口惠而實(shí)不至，因而美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)和農(nóng)村生活日益衰敗。他那篇來(lái)信也發(fā)表在《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》評(píng)論版。

庫(kù)薩克曾任艾奧瓦州眾議員，其主要工作之一是振興美國(guó)農(nóng)村和農(nóng)業(yè)。

王勇告訴澎湃新聞，庫(kù)薩克多次在重大問(wèn)題上支持中國(guó)的正義立場(chǎng)，比如在南海問(wèn)題和互聯(lián)網(wǎng)管理等問(wèn)題上，他都來(lái)信積極支持中國(guó)立場(chǎng)。他還自費(fèi)遠(yuǎn)程學(xué)習(xí)中國(guó)歷史和傳統(tǒng)文化。兩年前他還促成艾奧瓦州《得梅因紀(jì)事報(bào)》資深評(píng)論員來(lái)上海采訪《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》，肯定中國(guó)的新聞報(bào)道理念?！兜妹芬蚣o(jì)事報(bào)》記者返美后，寫(xiě)了融媒體深度報(bào)道，希望美國(guó)不要再對(duì)中國(guó)媒體抱有偏見(jiàn)。

“庫(kù)薩克一直來(lái)信跟我們說(shuō)，美國(guó)的新聞界不只是華爾街的新聞界，像艾奧瓦州這樣的農(nóng)業(yè)大州，新聞界對(duì)中國(guó)是友好的，報(bào)道也是客觀理性的。他希望艾奧瓦州能為中美友好合作做出更大的貢獻(xiàn)?！蓖跤抡f(shuō)道。

《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》刊登報(bào)道及格雷?庫(kù)薩克（Greg Cusack）來(lái)信原文如下：

Midwest farmers devastated by historic floods, ongoing US-China trade tensions

（《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》，6月17日）

About 10 days after the latest round of rainfall, half of Tom Waters’ farmland is still under water. “Some of it’s flooded from the river. Some of it’s flooded from seep water. Some of it just rain water that has nowhere else to go because it won’t drain,” said the seventh-generation farmer.

Waters and his family farm about 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) of land in Orrick, Missouri, a small town east of Kansas City. Among his nearly 1,700-acre rain-soaked fields, 900 acres were swallowed by the surging Missouri River when a levee broke on June 1 and are still up to 4.5 meters below water.
He had planted a few acres of corn, with the rest intended for soybeans, but “it’s just gone now,” Waters told Xinhua, estimating the loss to be “several hundred thousand dollars.”

When the flood hit, Waters had to move out some 60,000 bushels (1,633 tons) of soybeans in storage, and sold them at “a pretty low price,” about US$3 a bushel off the normal price prior to the US-China trade tensions. “That’s a lot of dollars difference for us,” he said.

“This has just been rain after rain. Before it even dries out it rains again. It’s been week after week after week like that,” said Waters, who has been farming for over 40 years in this area, adding that the persistent wet weather is a “very rare event.”

Noting that reservoirs up in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota still have too much water to dump, the seasoned farmer worried that “the river is going to be high all the rest of spring and through summer, so chances are we won’t get any of this (flooded land) planted this year.”

Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, also a corn and soybean farmer in Tarkio, northwest Missouri, told Xinhua that he saw similarly catastrophic floods in this area in 1993, but such a widespread severe flooding throughout the Midwest is the worst he can remember. “The last 12 months, in the center part of the United States, have been the wettest 12 months on record,” said Hurst, who has about 500 acres of land under water, noting that the relentless rain since late March has contributed to significant planting delays.

In the biggest corn-producing states, farmers had planted 83 percent of corn acreage by June 9, compared with a five-year average of 99 percent, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Hurst, who also has 40-plus years of farming experience, said corn should ideally be planted by the first week of May, and a one-month delay could cut the normal yield by roughly 20 percent, as there might not be enough time for it to mature before the frost hits the ground. The seemingly relentless rain in the Midwest has left farmers drowning in frustration. On top of that, many growers have been bearing the brunt of the US-initiated trade dispute with China, struggling with financial hardship and facing an uncertain future.

“We’ve seen a big cut in our (soybean) exports to China because of the trade tension, and that’s caused prices to drop,” Hurst said, adding that several months of trade frictions have “made a big difference” to farmers’ income.

Noting that the United States has had five years of above average crop yields, Hurst said that already led to an oversupply. A decline in exports to China, caused by the trade tensions and compounded by the African swine fever outbreak, has worsened the situation, he said.

‘Not a dependable supplier’

“It’s just a combination of all of them that has really made farming kind of difficult this year,” Hurst said. “It just keeps on and coming.”

For Waters, a combination of circumstances has made planning nearly impossible. “I think this has been the hardest year to make decisions for me since I’ve been farming,” he said.

Waters said it has been stressful to wait for a resolution to the trade dispute. “You keep thinking, well maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, then you hear a little bit of good news and maybe the price bumps up a little bit and then that blows up and it goes back down. So it’s just been difficult,” he said. Hurst, who farms 6,000 acres of land with his family, usually plants corns on half of the acreage and soybeans on the other half. Earlier this year, he had planned to plant 5 to 10 percent more corn because of the trade dispute and lower demand for soybeans. The unusual wet spring, however, makes that goal unfeasible.

“Now, anybody that’s shifting will shift to soybean simply because it’s too late for corn,” Hurst said, adding that if soybeans don’t get planted by this week, farmers will start to lose yield as well.

However, the USDA data shows that growers in the major soybean-producing states had only planted 60 percent of acreage by June 9, far below a five-year average of 88 percent. Speaking of the newly approved disaster relief bill and the new round of trade aid package, Hurst urged the administration to announce detailed rules of these programs quickly so that farmers can better plan.

Noting that it took Congress months to pass the disaster relief bill, Waters said he doesn’t expect to receive any money until weeks later. Still, he prefers a stable market rather than a trade aid package. “The question has to be, are we losing these markets permanently?” Hurst said, noting that trade tensions in some ways make the United States “not a dependable supplier” for soybeans.

“Obviously we’re going to put tariffs on you. We’re going to announce tariffs in a tweet. So they can happen at any time. So if I’m a grain buyer anywhere in the world, I’m looking for a supplier I can trust, and we’re no longer that supplier,” he said. “We’ll be paying for this for years.”

The authors are Xinhua writers.

Media role in informing US farmers

（格雷?庫(kù)薩克來(lái)信，英文，發(fā)表于《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》，6月21日）

I wrote this after reading “Midwest farmers devastated by historic floods, ongoing US-China trade tensions” in the Shanghai Daily (June 17). One heck of a lot of farmers in America are not happy, and an even greater number are very worried about how this will all play out, especially the longer the stand-off continues.

The age of the average farmer continues to increase, the prices they receive for their crops are stagnant, the costs of the inputs nonetheless are increasing, and corporate mono-crop “farming” is harming land, air, and water (the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than ever).

So, are they just stupid, misinformed, or what?

I think the problem is really the vast division in our country caused by the culture wars — the real, but deliberately exaggerated, tensions between generations, the urban-rural divide, the skillful way the Republicans keep single-issue politics picked raw, and the marked decline in rural districts that are Democratic leaning. In a sense, many farmers thus believe that they have nowhere else to go.

The Democratic candidates have yet to produce, at least to my knowledge, anything that could remotely be described as a farm or rural program package, making the situation even more dire.

I think the wide range of concerns covered by the Shanghai Daily is truly remarkable, and I hope that despite current tensions you will continue to cover matters in the US, including the many indicators that we are a society in deep trouble: such as levels of student debt after graduation, still largely stagnant wages, the ongoing widening disparity of wealth and the genuine plight of rural America. In contrast, newspapers in the US are not doing so well. The Oregonian, the newspaper published in Portland and its metro area of a few million, is nothing like what it was in the recent past.

They now deliver paper editions to subscribers only four days a week, expecting that on other days people will use their digital apps to access them. And their national, let alone international, coverage is insufficient to provide the information even half-informed citizens need.

The author is a retired US statesman. He now lives in Oregon.

《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》刊登報(bào)道中文及格雷?庫(kù)薩克（Greg Cusack）來(lái)信文章中譯版如下：

特寫(xiě)：洪災(zāi)與貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端夾擊的春播季給美國(guó)農(nóng)民帶來(lái)太多艱難

（新華社，2019年6月14日）

新華社美國(guó)奧里克6月13日電（記者熊茂伶 胡友松）在位于美國(guó)中部密蘇里州的小鎮(zhèn)奧里克，年過(guò)六旬的湯姆·沃特斯指著一片渾濁的水域告訴新華社記者，這里有他的近千英畝（1英畝約合0.4公頃）農(nóng)田，可惜已被本月初密蘇里河決堤后引發(fā)的洪水淹沒(méi)。

沃特斯一家七代務(wù)農(nóng)，目前擁有超過(guò)3500英畝農(nóng)田，主要種大豆和玉米，但眼下有一半農(nóng)田都遭了災(zāi)。他表示，由于上游蒙大拿州、北達(dá)科他州等地水庫(kù)還有大量蓄水，需要開(kāi)閘泄洪，自己受淹的農(nóng)田估計(jì)到整個(gè)夏天結(jié)束都難以重見(jiàn)天日。

“（受淹的農(nóng)田）有可能今年什么也不能種了?！蔽痔厮篃o(wú)奈地說(shuō)，他預(yù)計(jì)洪災(zāi)將令自己損失幾十萬(wàn)美元。

自今年3月底以來(lái)，美國(guó)中西部地區(qū)連綿不絕的水患讓沃特斯這樣的農(nóng)民叫苦不迭，播種進(jìn)程一再延誤。美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部數(shù)據(jù)顯示，截至上周，全美大約83%的玉米地完成了播種，進(jìn)度落后于過(guò)去5年同期99%的平均水平；大豆播種完成比例為60%，也低于過(guò)去5年同期88%的平均水平。

密蘇里農(nóng)會(huì)會(huì)長(zhǎng)布萊克·赫斯特告訴記者，如此大范圍、席卷整個(gè)中西部地區(qū)的嚴(yán)重洪災(zāi)，在他40多年務(wù)農(nóng)的記憶中未曾有過(guò)。他表示，即便洪水退去，受淹農(nóng)田也需等待時(shí)日才能讓土壤恢復(fù)，這意味著部分農(nóng)田將錯(cuò)過(guò)整個(gè)播種季。

赫斯特說(shuō)，玉米的最佳播種期已過(guò)去一個(gè)月，如果現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始種玉米，今年恐怕僅能實(shí)現(xiàn)八成收成；而大豆的播種窗口也在收窄，如果下周還不能完成播種，今年大豆產(chǎn)量也會(huì)受到影響。

不僅僅是天災(zāi)，美國(guó)政府挑起的對(duì)華貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端更加劇了美國(guó)中西部農(nóng)民的困境。赫斯特說(shuō)，貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端造成美國(guó)對(duì)華大豆出口大幅下降，大豆價(jià)格走低，農(nóng)民收入大打折扣，不少農(nóng)民面臨經(jīng)濟(jì)困難。

赫斯特表示，過(guò)去5年，美國(guó)大豆等農(nóng)作物實(shí)現(xiàn)罕見(jiàn)連續(xù)豐產(chǎn)，本已造成供過(guò)于求，而經(jīng)貿(mào)摩擦降低了中國(guó)這個(gè)大市場(chǎng)對(duì)美國(guó)大豆的需求，美國(guó)大豆供給過(guò)剩更嚴(yán)重，“這些因素疊加到一起，讓今年農(nóng)民的日子不好過(guò)”。

沃特斯原本囤了6萬(wàn)蒲式耳大豆（1蒲式耳大豆約重27.2公斤），以待價(jià)格回暖時(shí)出售。但因今春洪水來(lái)襲，他不得不及時(shí)轉(zhuǎn)移存貨、低價(jià)甩賣，與中美經(jīng)貿(mào)摩擦發(fā)生之前的大豆價(jià)格相比，損失了約18萬(wàn)美元。

與許多農(nóng)民相比，沃特斯還算幸運(yùn)。據(jù)了解，在內(nèi)布拉斯加、艾奧瓦、密蘇里等州，洪水不僅淹沒(méi)了田地，還席卷了部分谷倉(cāng)，農(nóng)民們只能眼睜睜地看著來(lái)不及搶運(yùn)的糧食化為烏有。

沃特斯坦言，今年是他務(wù)農(nóng)以來(lái)做決定最艱難的一年，度過(guò)了很多個(gè)“不眠之夜”。他一直期待美中雙方能盡早達(dá)成協(xié)議解決貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端，但等待的過(guò)程讓他焦慮不安。

“一直想啊，可能明天（會(huì)達(dá)成協(xié)議），然后聽(tīng)到一點(diǎn)好消息，大豆價(jià)格就漲了一點(diǎn)，然后期望又落空，價(jià)格又跌了，這對(duì)于所有農(nóng)民來(lái)說(shuō)都不容易。”他說(shuō)。

對(duì)于擁有6000英畝農(nóng)田的赫斯特而言，今春的播種季也很艱難。赫斯特家的農(nóng)田位于密蘇里州西北角的塔基奧小鎮(zhèn)，往年他通常會(huì)一半種大豆，一半種玉米。由于經(jīng)貿(mào)摩擦導(dǎo)致大豆需求減少，赫斯特原本打算今年多種幾百英畝玉米。但持續(xù)降雨令他的玉米播種計(jì)劃一再推遲，錯(cuò)過(guò)了最佳播種期，而如今如果改種大豆，又將面臨市場(chǎng)需求的不確定性。

為彌補(bǔ)經(jīng)貿(mào)摩擦給農(nóng)民造成的損失，美國(guó)政府去年出臺(tái)了約120億美元的農(nóng)業(yè)補(bǔ)貼計(jì)劃，為大豆等農(nóng)作物種植戶提供一定補(bǔ)貼。但沃特斯表示，他去年生產(chǎn)的大豆只得到了部分補(bǔ)貼。

今年5月下旬，美國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)部又宣布向農(nóng)民提供最高達(dá)160億美元的援助計(jì)劃，以補(bǔ)償他們?cè)诮?jīng)貿(mào)摩擦中遭受的損失。但沃特斯并不指望能很快拿到錢，與政府補(bǔ)貼相比，他更想要的是穩(wěn)定的市場(chǎng)。

赫斯特也對(duì)市場(chǎng)前景表示擔(dān)憂。他說(shuō)，美國(guó)政府隨意加征關(guān)稅、挑起貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端的行為會(huì)讓美國(guó)失去“可靠供應(yīng)商”地位，并造成長(zhǎng)期的負(fù)面影響，“我們將為此付出多年的代價(jià)”。（參與記者：高攀、劉杰）

格雷?庫(kù)薩克來(lái)信（中文譯文）

讀了《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》6月17日刊登的文章（“洪災(zāi)與貿(mào)易爭(zhēng)端給美國(guó)中西部農(nóng)民帶來(lái)災(zāi)難”），我提筆給貴報(bào)寫(xiě)信。太多美國(guó)農(nóng)民不高興，而且隨著爭(zhēng)端持久化，更多人對(duì)未來(lái)感到困惑。

美國(guó)農(nóng)民的平均年齡越來(lái)越大，生產(chǎn)成本越來(lái)越高，農(nóng)產(chǎn)品的售價(jià)卻停滯不前，而且公司化的單品種種植行為給土地、空氣和水都帶來(lái)了危害（墨西哥灣的“死亡地帶”與日俱增。）

這一切難道都是因?yàn)槊绹?guó)農(nóng)民愚蠢嗎？還是由于他們信息有誤，或其他原因？

在我看來(lái)，問(wèn)題的真正根源在于我們國(guó)家文化戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)造成的社會(huì)鴻溝 –代際沖突（真實(shí)存在但被刻意夸大）、城鄉(xiāng)分裂、共和黨人慣于利用單個(gè)政治問(wèn)題大做文章，往傷口撒鹽、以及民主黨賴以生存的農(nóng)村地區(qū)日益凋零?？梢哉f(shuō)，美國(guó)很多農(nóng)民因此頗感無(wú)奈，覺(jué)得無(wú)路可走。民主黨遠(yuǎn)未找到農(nóng)業(yè)或農(nóng)村的一攬子解決方案，這就讓情況更加糟糕。

我認(rèn)為，《上海日?qǐng)?bào)》在報(bào)道這些令人關(guān)心的話題方面是很有廣度的，我希望貴報(bào)繼續(xù)報(bào)道美國(guó)的這些問(wèn)題，盡管目前美國(guó)與中國(guó)有貿(mào)易摩擦。這些問(wèn)題說(shuō)明了美國(guó)社會(huì)身陷窘境，它們包括：學(xué)生債務(wù)居高不下（畢業(yè)后也是債臺(tái)高筑）、工資大多停滯不前、財(cái)富差距拉大、農(nóng)村陷入困境。

與貴報(bào)相反，美國(guó)報(bào)紙做得并不好。比如在俄勒岡及周邊數(shù)百萬(wàn)人口地區(qū)發(fā)行的《俄勒岡人報(bào)》已今不如昔。該報(bào)紙質(zhì)版現(xiàn)在每周只發(fā)行四天，其余時(shí)間希望讀者通過(guò)電子應(yīng)用軟件來(lái)閱讀。（在報(bào)業(yè)如此萎縮的情況下），別說(shuō)國(guó)際新聞，就連美國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)新聞，該報(bào)都報(bào)道不力，遠(yuǎn)不能滿足哪怕只有一般知識(shí)背景的讀者的需求。