Blundering around sticking your fingers into things you don’t understand is no way to run a lemonade stand, let alone a country.

And that’s the only way to describe the Trump administration’s chaotic and misinformed approach to agriculture policy, which could have a devastating impact on farmers in Lenawee County.

In early March, the president posted this on social media: “To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!”

The implication was that it’s OK if new tariffs spark a trade war that causes other countries to stop buying our farm products — because American farmers can just sell their products at home.

This reveals a stunning ignorance of the realities of American agriculture.

If you only look at the net import and export numbers, the idea might be tempting. The U.S. is (just barely) becoming a net food importer, meaning we’ll consume slightly more food each year than we produce. So there should be plenty of domestic market, right?

There’s only one problem. Our imports consist largely of things like fruits, vegetables, coffee, and sugar — products that our climate won’t allow us to grow in large enough quantities to meet demand.

So instead we import those products, while exporting the things we can grow well — like soybeans and corn.

If President Trump spent a little more time in the rural Midwestern counties that helped him get elected, he might know what we grow here. If you drive through Lenawee County, you’re going to see a whole lot of soybeans and corn. 

Soybeans and corn that, in a trade war, we could end up with nowhere to sell.

Farmers can’t wave a magic wand and turn soybeans into coffee beans. Certainly not in Michigan.

And the result of ignoring this reality certainly doesn’t sound like “fun.”