Delaware soybean farmers are bracing for the impact of China’s retaliation against President Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, which took effect this week.
Meanwhile, the president said his actions will bring higher prices at some point.
Delaware was one of nine states to break record high yields for soybeans with yields of 51 bushels per acre in 2017, up 22.9 percent from 2016. Delaware produced more than 8 million bushels of soybeans in 2017, the Delaware Department of Agriculture reported.
The healthy production has brought down prices, with the possibility that tariff retaliation could cause more damage.
Farmers were on President Trump’s mind on his visit to Europe this week as he tweeted that his tariffs were aimed at getting farmers better prices.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1017025848409550848
“Soybeans are the top agriculture export for the United States, and China is the top market for purchasing those exports,” said John Heisdorffer, a soybean grower from Keota, Iowa, and president of the American Soybean Association (ASA). “The math is simple. You tax soybean exports at 25-percent, and you have serious damage to U.S. farmers.”
Soy growers rely heavily on exports to China: In 2017, China imported 31 percent of U.S. production, equal to 60 percent of total U.S exports and nearly 1 in every 3 rows of harvested beans, the soybean group reported.
When the possibility of tariffs first arose, the association asked Trump to consider other policies for reducing the U.S. trade deficit with China. Then ASA organized a fly-in to urge Congress to encourage the Administration to rethink the tariffs.
Finally, in a last-ditch social media effort, individual soybean farmers who will be directly affected by the trade conflict attached their photographs to statements appealing directly to the President and his advisors, the association reported.
Delaware is actually a net importer of grains, due to the presence of the poultry industry.
However, low soybean prices hit farmers in the pocketbook, with the possibility that the loss of key markets could make things even worse.
Trump has his defenders who predict that China is on the run in the tariff war, with the U.S. poised to prevail. They also point to low prices being the result of bumper crops in areas such as Delaware..
