Funny that the wealth of big agriculture is suddenly and conveniently become a big concern of the far left over the blue collar and unemployed. Seriously? Do they really expect anyone sophisticated enough to be posting here to be fooled by such nonsense? Currently, tariffs are the only tool the Administration has to make other nations treat us fairly (other than military)...and they appear to work quite well.

They lived with soybeans at these prices for decades and thrived. The fun thing about talking to a farmer is, even in a knockout good year... they're going broke.... until tax time.. then a new tractor or grain hopper or UTV shows up. I live in AG country. My family owns farmland. A few good friends from High School are farmers. I talk them often. Things aren't as bad as the news makes things out to be. The farmers that spent like 12-$14 beans would last are the ones hurting. Those who understood the market and knew it wouldn't last are doing just fine.

Consumers aren't going to China? Go to Amazon and look at all of the items M.I.C. Look at the knockoff stuff. Consumers are absolutely going to China and don't give a damn if it hurts American workers. Consumers demand cheaper goods and like I said, they'll cut you out to save a buck.

Is your point that the tariffs hasn’t affected farmers or that it hasn’t affected them enough for you to care?

You clearly missed my point.
Most consumers don’t buy directly from China. They buy from retailers who source their products from all over the world, including China. It’s the importers and retailers who decide where the products they offer are made. If I want to buy a bicycle for my grandson I have to buy what the retailers offer. I can’t help it if it’s made in China, other than to refuse to buy one and try to explain to a 6 year old he can’t have a bicycle because of global trade disputes.

Soybean prices tanked in 2014 and have yet to recover.

Production has continued to climb in the face of lower prices.

Not surprising price is under pressure

Prices

https://www.macrotrends.net/2531/soybean-prices-historical-chart-data

Production


https://www.statista.com/statistics/192058/production-of-soybeans-for-beans-in-the-us-since-2000/

They haven't affected them in the way the majority of the news makes it sound like they have.
What has hurt farmers more than the tariffs is their dependence on GMO corn and beans. More and more markets are banning GMO's, but not China! If they'd make a switch back to non GMO, markets would open up. Same with livestock. Some markets have restrictions on antibiotics used or growth hormones... but not China... so... who do they cater to? Farmers need to change the way they do things. The problem is the way they used to do things is more labor intensive.

You clearly missed my point as well. Consumers demand cheaper goods. And yeah, if you look on Ebay and Amazon, you can indeed buy direct from China.

never bought a new bike esp a made in china one

a used BMX racer is stronger lighter and cheaper [before they became collectible]
I bought my kid a hutch chrome frame with nylon wheels for $50

maybe collector are the problem ?

With a $28 billion gift courtesy of taxpayers, farmers should be doing just fine.

What's a few billion when you are $22 trillion in debt.

I remember when Diamondback was a decent bike!

The good news for China is Brazilian soybean production is significantly increasing so China won't need to buy so much from our farmers.

I have always said this country has a 5 minute future outlook. I think we're down to 1 minute.

Brazil is importing from Argentina. Argentina is importing from US.

Quick googling, that's old news and based on cheap cheap cheap US soybeans because of the trade war, back in 2018. It's June 2019 now.

I read that one.
Brazil is going to be tough to contend with due to their climate. My brother has customers in Brazil and has been there a few times helping his customers setup their equipment. He was telling me recently that Brazil will be able to double crop Corn and beans in a single growing year due to their climate. That's hard to compete with.
The Forbes article pretty much hits it on reducing production but it still misses farmers producing more non GMO which opens up more markets. By moving to non GMO you could kill two birds with one stone. Farmers won't plant as many acres with non GMO beans because if I'm not mistaken they take longer to mature and field maintenance is higher because you can't just spray em' with roundup or liberty

Still going on today. Argentina can't produce enough for their own needs plus that of China and Brazil. Brazil needs to import because they can't support their own needs plus the added demand from China without putting substantially more acres into soybeans.

Soybean prices tanked in 2014.

I can't confirm if it's still going on but U.S. farmers selling soybeans at an artificially low price is fantastic business plan, that I know.

Net net, China can't count on U.S. soybeans and since they have a 50 year plan, are certainly making arrangements to cut down on U.S. soy purchasing.

brilliant!

A perfect illustration of how poorly the tariff war was planned and executed.

The prices were artificially high which is why as Sooner has repeatedly pointed out... they tanked in 2014