Farmers and ranchers are in a particularly vulnerable spot amid this protracted shutdown of the federal government.

President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies have driven up the cost of doing business, and complicated access to international markets, even as crop prices have come in below profitable levels. Trump's push prop up Argentinian President Javier Milei, an admirer and populist ally, through direct cash bailouts and quadrupling the beef imports from that country have also made life difficult for North Dakota ranchers at a time when farm and ranch bankruptcies are soaring.

Also, farmers and ranchers, who typically don't have access to employer-backed health insurance policies, are major users of the insurance marketplace created by Obamacare. Federal subsidies for those plans are the primary bone of contention between Democrats and Republicans during the shutdown. North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread has warned that if Congress doesn't renew those subsidies soon, those who get their insurance from the marketplace will face dramatic premium increases.

It is in this environment that the North Dakota Farm Bureau, one of the largest and most importance agriculture advocacy groups in the state, is set to elect a new leader. Val Wagner, one of the candidates for that position, joined this episode of Plain Talk.

"I personally just feel like the best way to have people understand where their food comes comes from, and for them to care about where their food comes from, is to talk to them about it, to have a relationship with them, so that they understand this isn't just some name on a box somewhere," she said. "That it really is a family that's behind all of this."

She also addressed the complex politics around agriculture issues, particularly at a time when much of the pain farmers and ranchers are facing is being caused a president rural Americans voted for overwhelmingly.

Wagner says that she wants to make the group less ideological than it has been in the past. "I really think that's our biggest thing, is that we need to re-engage those members that we have started to not hear from because they feel like sometimes the fringe is getting more attention than they are," she said.

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