Soybean Farmers Await Help as Tariff Dispute Closes China Market

By Joshua Haiar

SALEM — Spending 12 hours a day in his combine this week, harvesting amber rows of soybeans he planted in the spring, Andrew Streff has time to think — and it’s hard not to think about the ongoing trade dispute with China.

The country is boycotting purchases of U.S. soybeans in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

“China hasn’t purchased any soybeans from the United States this year, thanks to the president,” said Streff, who farms near Salem. “Our beans are the cheapest in the world, by about $2 a bushel, but this trade war is keeping them out of China — our biggest customer.”

Robert Lee is harvesting 300 acres of soybeans on his land near De Smet. He said many farmers are hesitant to blame Trump for bad bean prices.

“But the fact is, China imported 120 million metric tons of soybeans this year and not one bushel came from the U.S.,” Lee said. “That’s a direct result of this trade war.”

Farmers were similarly affected by trade disputes during Trump’s first term. Congress responded with $28 billion of aid for farmers in 2018 and 2019, according to the Congressional Research Service. The relief paid for farmers’ lost income by providing direct payments in its place.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said during a Sept. 26 public event in Rapid City that the federal government will probably have to help farmers again.

“I have talked to the president about this, because some of this is a result of tariff policies, trade relationships, etc. — China’s not buying soybeans today,” Thune said. “And so I think, inevitably, what’s going to happen is they’ll probably end up doing what we did a few years ago, because of loss of markets.”

Thune said that’s something “none of us want.”

“But I think some of that tariff revenue that’s coming in probably will end up heading in that direction,” he said.

Trump’s tariffs will increase federal tax revenues by an estimated $171 billion this year, according to a Sept. 26 report from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, tax policy research nonprofit.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the Trump administration is considering aid to farmers. He said in an interview with CNBC that farmers “should expect some news on Tuesday” about “substantial support for our farmers, especially the soybean farmers.”

Jerry Schmitz is the executive director of the South Dakota Soybean Association. He said U.S. soybean prices are down more than a dollar per bushel from last year, from over $11 down to $10, with South Dakota prices another 80 cents to $1.35 lower. Local grain elevators are struggling because exports through the Pacific Northwest into Asian countries have slowed to a trickle.

Based on the number of soybean acres planted this year, Schmitz said a $1 drop in price equates to about $250 million of lost income for South Dakota farmers.

A tariff is a tax paid by importers, with the cost often passed along in prices charged to customers. Schmitz said the impact of tariffs on farmers goes beyond the obvious. An example is a rise in fertilizer prices, “partly due to inflation, but exacerbated by the tariffs.”

Streff, the Salem-area farmer, also works as a commodities broker in Mitchell. He said farmers like him who locked in a price with a grain buyer months before harvest are doing better, but “you were gambling on the future.”

“A lot of farmers were hoping the president learned from the last time around,” he said. “But it didn’t surprise me — he campaigned on doing these tariffs. The U.S. elected someone who likes to pick fights with other countries, and now we’re in the middle of it.”

He said others waited to see how the crop would turn out and if trade relations with China would improve. They haven’t.

Farm leaders and state officials are creating new domestic soybean uses, including a $500 million soybean processing plant in Mitchell that will mostly use soybeans to make renewable diesel and livestock feed.

Streff said that’s encouraging, but it won’t replace the demand of a country with 1.4 billion people who like soybean-fed pork.

“It’s not going to solve all our problems,” he said.

It’s a point Thune echoed while in Rapid City.

“We need to get the Chinese market back at some point because we sell a ton,” Thune said. “Sixty percent of our soybeans are exported, mostly to China. And so we’ve got to have those export markets.”

South Dakota Searchlight launched in 2022. The Searchlight is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. The staff of the Searchlight retains full editorial independence.