COLUMBUS, Ohio (WLIO) – The harvest season is in full swing, but increased tariffs with other countries have left farmers facing fewer options to sell their crops.
This summer, China retaliated against U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods by halting purchases of U.S. soybeans until the tariffs are lifted. The country is now sourcing soybeans from other nations, leaving American farmers without one of their largest markets.
Officials from the Ohio Soybean Association said U.S. farmers have worked hard to develop a strong market in China. While they continue to explore and expand markets in other countries, the loss of Chinese buyers is expected to hit Ohio farmers especially hard this year.
“More than half our crop gets exported. And most of the last, say, 15 to 20 years, about half of those exports went to China. So you do the quick math, 25 to 30% of our crop in most years, over the last 15–20 years, has been going to China. So so far, China has not bought any beans for the crop that's being harvested right now. So there's still time for us to for, for the administration to go negotiate an agreement at the federal level that would hopefully bring, bring China back into the market for us soybeans,” said Kirk Merritt, executive director of the Ohio Soybean Association.
The lack of demand is pushing soybean prices lower and raising concerns within the agricultural community.
“The farm economy right now is really challenged. Crop farmers are facing crop prices that are significantly lower than they were, say, four or five years ago, and are as low as they've been for quite a while. On top of that, input costs for producing the crop have stayed high, so cost for seed, fertilizer, interest rates for that matter, equipment have stayed relatively high while the crop prices have gone down,” Merritt added.
Looking ahead, Merritt said there could be growing demand for biodiesel, renewable diesel and aviation fuel made from soybeans. But for now, that demand is not strong enough to make up for the loss of the Chinese market.
