https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/daily/on-the-front-lines-trade-war-sinks-north-dakota-soy-growers?module=under-carousel&pgtype=homepage&i=
"For North Dakota, losing China — the buyer of about 70 per cent of the state’s soybeans — has destroyed a staple source of income. Agriculture is North Dakota’s largest industry, surpassing energy and representing about 25 per cent of its economy.
“North Dakota has probably taken a bigger hit than anybody else from the trade situation with China,†said Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
In its second-quarter agricultural credit conditions survey this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said 74 per cent of respondents in North Dakota reported lower net farm income."
"Some farmers were relying on the Trump administration’s $28 billion in farm aid payments to compensate them for trade war losses, only to be disappointed with new payment rates for counties in North Dakota.
The rates are below those for some southern states that rely much less on exports to China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture determined other states had a higher “level of exposure†to tariffs than North Dakota because they also grow other crops, such as cotton and sorghum, that were hit by Chinese tariffs, according to a brief written statement from the USDA in response to questions from Reuters."
"Vanessa Kummer’s farm at Colfax, N.D., about 50 km south of Fargo, has yet to sell a single soybean from the fall harvest because of the low prices. Normally, the farm would have forward-sold 50 to 75 per cent of the upcoming harvest.
She fears the U.S.-China soy trade is now “permanently damaged†as China shifts its purchases to Brazil, uses less soy in animal feed and consumes less pork as African swine fever kills of millions of the nation’s pigs.
“It will take years to get back to any semblance of what we had over in China,†Kummer said, standing in a sparse field of ankle-high soy plants, where two weeks earlier she hosted a delegation of soy importers from Ecuador and Peru.
Though it is the No. 4 soy state overall, North Dakota is home to two of the top three U.S. soy producing counties in the nation.
Options for North Dakota farmers are limited. U.S. wheat has been losing export market share for years. Demand for specialty crops such as peas and lentils, which grow well in the northern U.S., has been dampened by retaliatory tariffs imposed by India, a major importer of both products."
"For North Dakota, losing China — the buyer of about 70 per cent of the state’s soybeans — has destroyed a staple source of income. Agriculture is North Dakota’s largest industry, surpassing energy and representing about 25 per cent of its economy.
“North Dakota has probably taken a bigger hit than anybody else from the trade situation with China,†said Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council.
In its second-quarter agricultural credit conditions survey this month, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said 74 per cent of respondents in North Dakota reported lower net farm income."
"Some farmers were relying on the Trump administration’s $28 billion in farm aid payments to compensate them for trade war losses, only to be disappointed with new payment rates for counties in North Dakota.
The rates are below those for some southern states that rely much less on exports to China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture determined other states had a higher “level of exposure†to tariffs than North Dakota because they also grow other crops, such as cotton and sorghum, that were hit by Chinese tariffs, according to a brief written statement from the USDA in response to questions from Reuters."
"Vanessa Kummer’s farm at Colfax, N.D., about 50 km south of Fargo, has yet to sell a single soybean from the fall harvest because of the low prices. Normally, the farm would have forward-sold 50 to 75 per cent of the upcoming harvest.
She fears the U.S.-China soy trade is now “permanently damaged†as China shifts its purchases to Brazil, uses less soy in animal feed and consumes less pork as African swine fever kills of millions of the nation’s pigs.
“It will take years to get back to any semblance of what we had over in China,†Kummer said, standing in a sparse field of ankle-high soy plants, where two weeks earlier she hosted a delegation of soy importers from Ecuador and Peru.
Though it is the No. 4 soy state overall, North Dakota is home to two of the top three U.S. soy producing counties in the nation.
Options for North Dakota farmers are limited. U.S. wheat has been losing export market share for years. Demand for specialty crops such as peas and lentils, which grow well in the northern U.S., has been dampened by retaliatory tariffs imposed by India, a major importer of both products."
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