- Harvest season is about to begin, but soybean farmers are still waiting for China to make their first order
- It's a retaliation against the U.S. in response to the tariffs in place by President Trump.
- Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley shared their thoughts on the worries farmers have
Harvest season is about to begin for many farmers. But the trade war between U.S. and China could lead to a soybean crisis here in the Midwest, and farmers are worried.
The tariffs on China led to retaliations from America's number one soybean buyer. No orders of soybeans from China who accounted for nearly $13 billion worth of the crop last year.
it's hitting farmers hard. Nebraskan soybean farmer Bruce Williams said "we're feeling the pressure of the high inputs this year and probably the downside is we don't have the commodity prices to go with the input prices, so it's creating more pain in the farming environment."
Nebraska farm bureau analysts say soybean input costs for farmers have increased 61 percent per acre since 2020. I asked Nebraska senator Pete Ricketts and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley on the worry farmers have.
Ricketts talked about what the administration is doing. "we need to continue to work to open up markets," said Ricketts. "That's what the tramp administration is doing by, for example, getting trade deals done with the U.K."
Iowa senator Chuck Grassley says farmers want the tariff issue between the u-s and china settled. "so that we would be able to market our soybeans there once again," said Grassley.
It's also worth noting that Governor Pillen returned from his "trade mission" to Japan to highlight Nebraska's advantages in supplying bio-fuels like ethanol 15. Something Senator Ricketts said will help the soybean market.
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