Soybean farmers in Iowa are grappling with falling prices and stalled orders as uncertainty over U.S. tariff policy disrupts their harvest season and export plans. Located in the Midwest, Iowa is a major agricultural state, with soybeans among its key export crops. Each year by mid-October, the harvest is typically completed, and most farmers secure confirmed orders ahead of time. But this season, many are facing reduced prices and a lack of buyers.
Grant Kimberley, Senior Director of Market Development at the Iowa Soybean Association, said that while farmers usually adjust their crop mix and planting strategies based on past market trends, unpredictable tariff policies have left many unprepared. Some are holding back their harvest in hopes of better prices, slowing sales, while others are selling at a loss.
"If you don't have access to some of the markets, then a lot of farmers will choose just to put it into storage. And they have the grain bins and other storage facilities, and they'll hold and they'll wait, and see if the market changes in the coming months," he said.
Kimberley noted that increasing international market competition, rising production costs, and disruptions to trade normalization have continued to intensify pressure faced by American farmers.
"All the uncertainty on trade and so forth between, not just the U.S. and China, but everywhere in the world, there has been all kinds of uncertainty, and that has hampered some of the normal trade flow between the various countries. And all that has contributed to being a more difficult economic financial situation for most farmers," he said.
He also emphasized that stabilizing U.S.-China relations is vital not only for American agriculture, but for the broader global economy.
"When we (the U.S. and China) are working together, and things are more in a normal relationship, it's actually not only better for both countries, it really impacts the whole world economy. So now we (U.S. farmers) are hopeful that with some more resumption of normalized trade on agriculture products between the U.S. and China, maybe some of these things will start to turn around a little bit and things could look a little bit better here in the near future. And this is good not only for the farmer, but this is good for the consumer in China as well," Kimberly added.
Iowa's soybean farmers hit by tariff uncertainty, urge US-China trade stability
Iowa's soybean farmers hit by tariff uncertainty, urge US-China trade stability
Iowa's soybean farmers hit by tariff uncertainty, urge US-China trade stability
