geoduck divers<\/a> have been affected. But soybeans stand out because of the crop\u2019s outsized importance to U.S. agricultural exports. Soybeans are the top U.S. food export, accounting for about 14% of all farm goods sent overseas. <\/p>\nAnd China has been by far the largest foreign buyer. Last year, the U.S. exported nearly $24.5 billion worth of soybeans, and China accounted for more than $12.5 billion. That compared with $2.45 billion by the European Union, the second-largest buyer. This year, China hasn’t bought beans since May. <\/p>\n
With U.S. farmers hurting, the Trump administration is under growing pressure to reach a deal with China. As talks drag on, Trump appears ready to help. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to take some of the tariff money \u2014 relatively small amount, but a lot for the farmers \u2014 and we\u2019re going to help the farmers out a little bit\u201d during this transition period, Trump said. <\/p>\n
The only way most farmers survived Trump\u2019s trade war in his first term was with tens of billions of dollars in government payments. But that’s not what most farmers want. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe American farmer, especially myself included, we don\u2019t want aid payments,\u201d said Brian Warpup, 52, a fourth-generation farmer from Warren, Indiana. \u201cWe want to work. We work the land, we harvest the land, the crop off the land. And the worst thing that we could ever want is a handout.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farmers are looking to Trump for a long-term solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverwhelmingly, farmers have been in President Trump\u2019s corner,\u201d said Ragland, the president of the soybean association. \u201cAnd I think the message that our soybean farmers as a whole want to deliver is: \u2018President Trump, we\u2019ve had your back. We need you to have ours now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He said farmers appreciate the willingness to provide some short-term relief, but what they ultimately need are strong, reliable markets. \u201cOur priority remains seeing the United States secure lasting trade agreements \u2014 particularly with China \u2014 that allow farmers to sell their crops and build a sustainable future with long-term customers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ragland, 39, hopes his three sons will become the 10th generation to till his 4,500 acres in Magnolia, Kentucky. Unless something changes soon, he worries that thousands of farmers may not survive.<\/p>\n
Coming into this year, many farmers were just hoping to break even because crop prices were weak while their costs had only increased. Trump’s tariffs, which helped make their crops uncompetitive around the world, drove prices down further. And tariffs on steel and fertilizer sent costs up even more.<\/p>\n
Darin Johnson, president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, said he still has faith in the Trump administration to reach a good trade deal with China. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think where the patience is probably wearing thin is the time,\u201d said Johnson, a fourth-generation farmer. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody thought that we were going to take this much time because we were told 90 deals, 90 deals in 90 days.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. soybean industry grew in response to Chinese demand starting back in the 1990s, when China began its rapid economic rise and turned to foreign producers to help feed its people. Protein-rich soybeans are an essential part of the diet. <\/p>\n
While China relies on domestic crops for steamed beans and tofu, it needs far more soybeans for oil extraction and animal feed. In 2024, China produced 20 million metric tons of soybeans, while importing more than 105 million metric tons.<\/p>\n
American farmers have come to count on China as their biggest customer, and this has \u201cgiven the Chinese a point of leverage,\u201d Sutter said. By holding off on buying U.S. soybeans, China is seen as trying to leverage that purchasing power in the trade talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the strategy,\u201d said Sutter of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. \u201cI think that\u2019s why China is targeting soybeans and other agricultural products, because they know that farmers have a strong lobby and farmers are important to the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, didn\u2019t answer specific questions on soybean purchases but urged the U.S. to work with Beijing. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe essence of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation is mutual benefit and win-win,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n
China turned to Brazil when Trump launched his first trade war in 2018. Last year, Brazilian beans accounted for more than 70% of China’s imports, while the U.S. share was down to 21%, World Bank data shows. Argentina and other South American countries also are selling more to China, which has diversified to boost food security.<\/p>\n
U.S. farmers also are broadening their customer base, said Sutter, who recently traveled to Japan and Indonesia in search of new markets. Taiwan pledged to purchase $10 billion worth of soybeans, corn, wheat and beef in the next four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s strong diversification efforts underway,\u201d Sutter said. But \u201cChina is so big, it\u2019s hard to replace them overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farmers are working to boost consumption at home, too. Growth in biodiesel production has taken in some of the soybeans that were once exported. Others are crushed to produce soybean oil and soybean meal. The United Soybean Board is investing in research into the benefits of using soybeans to feed dairy cows and hogs.<\/p>\n
But Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt, a director with the Soybean Board, knows that such domestic uses are growing gradually.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot replace a China in one shot,\u201d Ewoldt said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to happen. We need to be realistic in that.\u201d <\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Tang reported from Washington, and Funk from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press journalists Dylan Lovan in Magnolia, Kentucky, Obed Lamy in Warren, Indiana, and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAGNOLIA, Ky. — The leafy soybean plants reach Caleb Ragland’s thighs and are ripe for harvest, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[108684,2342,23,966,28,793,3139,3,111,795,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-184537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-108684","9":"tag-agriculture","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-article","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-international-trade","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-u-s-news","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa","24":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}