2026年9月17日 / 美国东部时间下午5:53 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：艾玛·尼科尔森、南希·科德斯
南希·科德斯是CBS新闻驻华盛顿特区的首席白宫通讯员，曾凭借报道斩获多项大奖，包括多座艾美奖、爱德华·R·默罗奖以及阿尔弗雷德·I·杜邦-哥伦比亚大学奖。
52岁的马特·贝尔在北卡罗来纳州中部从事农业生产已有半辈子有余。他在超过1000英亩的土地上种植大豆、玉米和小麦，同时饲养肉牛。但这位曾投票给特朗普总统的农民表示，燃料、化肥和设备价格飙升正在损害他的农场，并导致他的一些同行农民考虑在本种植季结束后就此收手。
“我干这行34年了，从来没有像过去这一年这么焦虑和紧张过，”贝尔周三在北卡罗来纳州金斯山的农场接受CBS新闻采访时说道。
北卡罗来纳州农民马特·贝尔接受CBS新闻首席白宫通讯员南希·科德斯采访。CBS新闻
由于高昂的成本，贝尔被迫对其经营模式做出重大调整。他缩减了部分种植面积，尽量延长设备的使用寿命，还开始自制化肥。他的孩子们还开了一家门店，游客可以在秋季前来采摘南瓜、乘坐干草车。但贝尔依然感到捉襟见肘。
“我们能砍的开支都砍了，”他说，“过去几年农业行业的日子都糟透了，我们也尽了最大努力削减不必要的支出，但现在我们已经到了没有什么可以再砍的地步了。没有燃料没法干活，没有化肥也没法干活，这些都是刚需。”
贝尔表示，他的柴油成本自去年以来几乎翻了一番。
与伊朗的战争推高了燃料价格，并造成了供应链中断——霍尔木兹海峡目前仍处于海军封锁状态，仅有有限数量的油轮可以通过这条关键航道。此外，也门伊朗支持的胡塞叛军与沙特阿拉伯之间日益升级的冲突，以及其他伊朗代理部队对沙特基础设施的袭击，也在挤压红海地区的全球燃料供应，推动全球燃料价格飙升。
2026年9月：北卡罗来纳州农民马特·贝尔的设备使用柴油燃料，目前价格几乎是一年前的两倍。
俄罗斯和乌克兰的冲突也限制了炼油产能，进一步推高了油价。
根据美国汽车协会（AAA）的数据，全国柴油均价约为每加仑6.40美元，几乎是一年前均价的两倍。北卡罗来纳州周四的柴油均价达到了有记录以来的最高值6.19美元每加仑。
价格波动幅度之大，让贝尔说，经销商早上报的价格只到下午就失效了——届时价格又会上涨。他无法避开这笔开支——他的农用设备都靠柴油驱动。贝尔向CBS新闻展示了他的联合收割机，他说现在每天需要花费约600美元的柴油，这比去年的花费高出一倍多。
贝尔表示，他在8月份就花完了全年3.5万美元的燃油预算。现在他预计全年燃油总支出将接近5万至6万美元。
“这个农场里的每一台设备都靠柴油运转，”他说。没有柴油，他的农场就无法运转。
关税影响：“我们碰得到的所有东西都涨价了”
伤害贝尔生意的不只是柴油价格。特朗普总统大范围实施的关税也推高了成本，而且随着总统持续威胁要加征更多关税，他和其他农民陷入了进退两难的境地。
“我们碰得到的所有东西，化肥、燃料、农药、种子、零部件——你知道的，所有东西，全都涨价了，”贝尔说道，他指出许多价格上涨都源于特朗普的关税政策。
农民们对特朗普5月份宣布的一项协议表示欢迎，根据该协议，中国将在2028年前每年从美国购买2500万吨大豆。2026年中国购买的美国大豆数量较2025年大幅增加，但中国对美国大豆征收的10%报复性关税仍然有效。中国征收这一关税是为了报复特朗普对中国实施的与芬太尼相关的关税。
贝尔表示，中国的大豆关税让市场陷入了不确定状态：也就是说，尽管农民生产大豆的各项成本“都涨了”，但中国并未提高收购美国大豆的价格。
在特朗普下周与中国国家主席习近平会晤前的周四，美国大豆协会致信特朗普，呼吁他推动取消这10%的关税。
“我觉得我们被误导了”
贝尔最初是支持特朗普的政策的，他甚至认为伊朗冲突带来的短期价格上涨是值得的，因为这能确保伊朗永远不会拥有核武器，而这也是特朗普总统 stated goals of the war. 但他现在表示，政府在这场战争中做出了误判。“我们整个国家都被牵着鼻子走，这可不妙，”贝尔说。
贝尔批评了政府在战争问题上的决策，称“我觉得我们被误导了”。
他还表示，政府的农业政策并非他当初被告知的那样。
“我们当初被忽悠了，说农业会走在政策前沿……会有一些政策将美国农民和牧场主放在首位。但现在，这一切都没有实现。”
贝尔说，尽管政府的农民救助计划听起来规模不小，但“钱并不多”。
贝尔表示，今年11月，他会投票给那些他认为有“常识”、倾听美国人担忧的候选人。
“我是共和党人，但我可能会投分裂票，”他说。
“我们在为生存而战”
贝尔说，他认识一些农民因为高昂的成本被迫停业，无法在价格上涨的情况下维持生意。
“我不希望任何美国人同情美国农民，”贝尔说，“我希望美国民众感到愤怒，因为我们被置于这样的境地。我们在为生存而战，而且我们的选择越来越少了。”
他承认，自己也有可能被迫关闭农场。
“钱不是问题，我根本不在乎钱，”他说，“但我们对自己的工作非常自豪。这是无法用金钱衡量的。但在当前的条件下，我无法继续经营下去。必须做出改变了。”
但当被问及如果不做农民会做什么时，贝尔犹豫了：“我不知道。这是我这辈子唯一做过的事。”
Farmer who voted for Trump talks about impact of high costs of Iran war, tariffs: “We’re all just in survival mode”
September 17, 2026 / 5:53 PM EDT / CBS News
By Emma Nicholson, Nancy Cordes
Nancy Cordes is CBS News’ chief White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Cordes has won numerous awards for her reporting, including multiple Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.
Matt Bell, 52, has been farming for more than half his life in central North Carolina. He grows soybeans, corn and wheat and raises beef cattle on more than 1,000 acres. But Bell, who voted for President Trump, says soaring prices for fuel, fertilizer, and equipment are hurting his farm and leading some of his fellow farmers to consider calling it quits once this growing season ends.
“I’ve done this 34 years. I have never worried and stressed like I have the last year,” Bell told CBS News in an interview on Wednesday at his farm in Kings Mountain, North Carolina.
North Carolina farmer Matt Bell is interviewed by CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes. CBS News
Bell has been forced to make significant changes to his operation as a result of the high costs. He’s shifting some of his acreage, trying to stretch out the lifespan of his equipment and producing his own fertilizer. His children have also opened up a storefront where visitors can pick pumpkins and take hayrides in the fall. But Bell is still feeling the pinch.
“We’ve cut everything we can cut,” he said. “The last several years in agriculture have been terrible, and we have, you know, just cut the fat anywhere we could. But we’re just getting to the point now there’s nothing left to cut. You cannot run without fuel. You cannot run without fertilizer. You have to have that.”
Bell says his diesel fuel costs have about doubled since last year
The war with Iran has driven up fuel costs and created supply chain disruptions as the Strait of Hormuz remains under a naval blockade with a limited number of oil tankers allowed through the critical waterway. And the intensifying conflict between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia and attacks by other Iranian proxy forces on Saudi infrastructure are squeezing global fuel supplies in the Red Sea and contributing to a spike in global fuel costs.
September 2026: North Carolina farmer Matt Bell’s equipment runs on diesel fuel, which is about twice as expensive now as it was a year ago.
Fighting in Russia and Ukraine has also limited oil refining capacity, driving up prices further.
Diesel prices nationwide are averaging roughly $6.40 per gallon, according to AAA, nearly double the average price a year ago. In North Carolina Thursday, diesel prices hit their highest recorded average of $6.19 per gallon.
Prices have been so volatile that Bell said the price he’s quoted from his distributor in the morning is only valid until the afternoon — when it rises again. He can’t avoid the expense — his farm equipment runs on diesel. Bell showed CBS News his combine, which he says now requires about $600 worth of diesel fuel per day. That’s more than twice what he paid last year.
Bell said he blew through his yearly fuel budget of $35,000 in August. Now, he expects his total for the year to be closer to $50,000 to $60,000.
“Every piece of equipment on this farm runs on diesel,” he said. Without it, his farm wouldn’t be able to function.
Tariff impact: “Everything that we touch has gone up”
It’s not just diesel prices that are hurting Bell’s business. President Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs have also driven up costs — and left him and other farmers in limbo as the president continues to threaten to impose more tariffs.
“Everything we’re touching, the fertilizer, fuel, chemicals, seed, parts — you know, the whole nine yards, everything that we touch has gone up,” Bell said, noting that many of the price hikes resulted from Mr. Trump’s tariff policies.
Farmers welcomed Mr. Trump’s announcement in May that he had reached a deal for China to buy 25 million metric tons of soybeans from the U.S. annually through 2028. China has purchased significantly more U.S. soybeans in 2026 compared to 2025, but its 10% retaliatory tariff on U.S. soybeans remains in place. China imposed the levy in response to Mr. Trump’s fentanyl-related tariffs on China.
Bell said China’s soybean tariffs have left the market in limbo: That is, China hasn’t increased the prices it’s paying for U.S. soybeans, even though everything farmers touch in producing soybeans “has gone up.”
In a letter to Mr. Trump on Thursday ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, the American Soybean Association called on him to push for the elimination of the 10% tariff.
“I think we’ve been misled”
Bell initially supported Mr. Trump’s policies and even thought short-term price increases resulting from the Iran conflict would be worth ensuring Iran never has a nuclear weapon, one of the president’s stated goals of the war.
But he now says the administration has made miscalculations in the war. “We’re just being strung along as a country and that’s not good,” Bell said.
Bell criticized the administration’s decision-making around the war, saying, “I think we’ve been misled.”
He also says the administration’s agriculture policy is not what he was promised.
“We were sold a bill of goods that agriculture was going to be on the forefront … and there was going to be some policy that would put America’s farmers and ranchers first. And right now, that has not happened.”
Bell said that while the administration’s farmer bailout program sounds significant, “it’s not a lot of money.”
This November, Bell says he’ll be voting for candidates who he says have “common sense,” and listen to Americans’ concerns.
“I’m a Republican, but I’m probably going to vote a split ticket,” he said.
“We are fighting for survival”
Bell said he knows farmers who have been forced out of business as a result of high costs, unable to sustain their business with rising prices.
“I do not want any Americans to feel sorry for the American farmer,” Bell said. “I want the Americans to be mad that we have been put in this situation. We are fighting for survival, and we’re running out of options.”
And he acknowledged it’s possible he could also be forced to shutter his farm.
“Money’s not the problem, I could care less about the money,” he said. “But we take a lot of pride in what we do. You can’t put a dollar sign on that. But I can’t stay in business under these conditions. Something has got to give.”
But asked what he would do if he wasn’t a farmer, Bell hesitated: “I don’t know. It’s all I’ve ever done.”