‘I am so fed up’: Farmers face financial squeeze from tariffs and diesel and blame GOP as Trump heads to Kansas to energize voters before midterms

Fifth-generation Kansas farmer Glenn Brunkow describes this time of year as “go time,” when farmers are combining fields, hauling crops to town and moving livestock from summer pastures to their winter homes. But this harvest season, they’re doing it with diesel prices more than $2.50 per gallon higher than a year ago, adding to financial pressures from rising costs, unpredictable markets and shrinking profits. “It seems like it’s coming at us from all directions,” said Brunkow, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau. The economic strain is becoming a growing political concern for Republicans in states they have long dominated. President Donald Trump is heading to Kansas on Monday and Iowa later in…