The Country 13/05/25: Todd Clark talks to Jamie Mackay

Our Kentucky-based US farming correspondent talks about Trump, tariffs, a wet spring, and a whipping at the Kentucky Derby. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You've heard from Hunter McGregor and Shanghai. Let's cross the
Pacific Ocean and catch up with our US farm and
correspondent Todd Clark, based out of Lexington, Kentucky. Todd, you're
a lot wealthier today than you were yesterday. The dal
Jones up nearly three percent off news that Trump is
reducing the tariffs with China. It's been well received in

(00:22):
the US.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good afternoon, Jamie. It has been well received. But I
would venture to guess the average American probably has no
idea what's going on and has no idea that anything's
different today than it was yesterday. But outside of that,
the people that do pay attention. As you're aware, the

(00:47):
stock market is on an upward tick today here in
the US, and there's a lot of positivity. But we
were looking for positivity, so it's not surprising that the
first glen or a hope that everybody has latched onto it.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
So Todd Clark in Kentucky, you're heading into your spring
summer period. How's the season being In general?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
The season so far has been good, plenty of rainfall,
a little on the cool side, but as far as
grass growth and that sort of thing, it's been good.
We've had some flooding here in Kentucky and up and
down the Mississippi River. And if there was one complaint,
it would be that it's raining too much in a

(01:31):
big part of the crop growing portion of the US.
And so there's a lot of concern right now about
whether farmers will be able to finish planting corn, soybeans, rice, cotton,
those sorts of things. And so a friend of mine
was telling me in Arkansas this morning, the last time
he planted rice was the nineteenth of April and hasn't

(01:53):
been able to get into the field since then. And
he feels like the window closes the twentieth of May.
So he's pretty nervous. He's got another sixteen hundred acres
to go. See.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
The clock is ticking there. New Zealand beef farmers are
getting record prices courtesy of you guys and your insatiable
demand for hamburgers. Does it follow that you guys are
getting record beef prices as well.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, it continues and it just keeps ticking up. The steers,
five hundred pound steers are bringing four dollars and thirty
cents US per pound, and so that's unheard of prices.
We're in three four five dollars a pound live weight
prices at the stockyards here, and so it's it's just

(02:42):
crazy prices people's net worth talking about Trump, the cattle
prices have caused people's net worth to change overnight.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
That's for sure, yep, Todd. They are literally black gold
on Who's that is the beef cattle in America at
the moment? Talking about things with Who's the Kentucky Derby
was run first Saturday in May. It's just down the
road from you, just outside of Louisville. You're in Lexington.
Did you hit along?

Speaker 2 (03:07):
I wish I did, but I didn't. We had had
a party at our house. But attendance this year was
down a little bit, but partially because it had rained
all day that Saturday. But there was still one hundred
and forty seven thousand people in attendance. In sovereignty, a
horse belonging to the ruling family of Dubai was the winner.

(03:31):
It's the first time that they had a derby winner.
But the most interesting thing is the jockey had used
his whip. He's allowed six times to hit the horse
with the with the crop and he used at eight,
which cost him a fine of sixty two thousand dollars.
So that's that's the big discussion in horse country in

(03:54):
the last several days is once that penalty was levied
against him.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Thanks Todd. Todd KA in Kentucky,