LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana soybean farmer says he's cautiously optimistic after China agreed to drop some tariffs and buy product from the Hoosier state.
The price of soybeans directly affects how much you pay for meat and dairy products. While farmers are now expecting a record crop, that doesn't necessarily mean a record year at the bank.
"Well, the things going on in agriculture right now is, and it's somewhat challenging, is that we are in a global market, regardless," said Jim Love.
Love is a southern Indiana farmer with a passion for soybeans who comes from a long line of farmers. He said the end user of his crop is most certainly not going to be in the midwest.
"It's a global market, and whoever's got the biggest, fattest crop is going to kind of dictate the price," he said. "And that's kind of the problem. We've been in between the tensions with China in general and the fact that they were accessing soybeans cheaper from Brazil than they were us."
Indiana is the third-largest producer of soybeans, and China is the world's largest buyer of soybeans. According to a report from The Associated Press, China has been consistently buying about one quarter of the American crop in recent years. China bought more than $12.5 billion worth of the nearly $24.5 billion worth of U.S. soybeans that were exported last year.
China quit buying American soybeans this year after Trump imposed his tariffs. Yet it had been steadily shifting more of its purchases to Brazil and other South American nations over the past decade.
With China agreeing to drop some retaliatory tariffs on American agricultural products and promising to buy 12 million metric tons of soybeans through January, which is more than Indiana farmers produce in a year, Love is cautiously optimistic.
"I'm excited about it, but I'm not overly optimistic because they have a track record of telling us they'll take stuff and then forgetting to kind of pick them up later," he said. "It's kind of like when you sell stuff on Facebook Marketplace."
Love said promises are just that until the check clears the bank.
"But I would say that there will be people who are breaking even," he said. "There will be a few folks that still make money, and there will be people who are losing money."
The AP reported that China's promise to buy at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for the next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were before President Donald Trump launched his trade war with China in the spring. But the 12 million metric tons that China plans to buy between now and January is only about half the typical annual volume
This comes as farmers face soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds. Trump had promised to offer farmers a significant aid package this fall to help them survive the trade war with China, but it's been put on hold because of the ongoing government shutdown. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that aid package is still in the works, but she promised the administration is ready to “step in the gap” and address any sort of harm the trade war has caused farmers.
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Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press also contributed to this report.
