
WESTLEY — President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs could directly impact farmers in California’s Central Valley.
Third-generation farmer Daniel Bays’ family farm in the small Stanislaus County community of Westley has produced almonds since the 1960s.
Bays’ family farm has 160 acres — many of which are used for almonds. He said the farm was first impacted in 2018 after President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum caused China to retaliate by raising tariffs on U.S. products.
According to the Almond Board of California, roughly 70% of the state’s almonds are exported.
“At the end of the year, it will impact us. As you have tariffs come into it, or different costs, that usually raises the cost of the product to the buyer at the end. Sometimes, they’re willing to pay that. Sometimes, they’re not,” Bays said.
Almonds dominate the county’s exports, representing 53% of their international certificates in 2023, according to Stanislaus County’s annual crop report.
Bays said that while tariffs directly affect “handlers,” meaning the large corporations that small farmers sell to, the effect still trickles down to small farmers. He said the biggest impact is a payment decrease from those handlers.
Still, Bays said he’s looking at both the long and short-term effects.
“You have to look at the short term and the long term, and I think in the short term, tariffs may be a challenge for us and may result in lower prices. But sometimes, you need to feel a little bit of pain now if you can handle it to make for a better market later on,” Bays said.