Soy Bean Farmers In Trouble.
Soybean farmers across the Midwest are bracing for another difficult year as trade tensions with China cut off their largest export market and rising costs drive profits below break-even.
Fourth-generation Illinois farmer Chris Otten said drought and lower prices have turned a routine harvest into a financial strain.
"We can’t harvest a crop that puts us in the black at all," he said. "Everything we’re doing is going to put us in the red."
He said the family is leaning more on alfalfa and wheat to offset losses, though switching adds costs. "Anytime you change something, your soil tests and fertilizer rates change and your costs go way up." By Olivianna Calmes FOXBusiness
Trade wars resulting from the tariffs are the new stepping stone of international relations. Tariffs are being implemented on a vast array of products that previously free flowed in and out of the country and nations like China are hitting back. This harvest season will be particularly painful because China is refusing to purchase America’s soybean crop, hitting midwest farmers who are some of the President’s biggest supporters.
