Farmers throughout Mississippi and the United States are watching the high stakes trade war the United States is in with great interest. Their livelihoods depend on it.
Several farming communities as well as the president of the American Soybean Association are concerned with Chinese tariffs on agricultural products, including soybeans.
China is the worlds largest importer of soybeans. They buy roughly $14 billion a year worth of the staple crop, approximately 27 million tons.
Local farmers are seeing the impact.
“I am very concerned with these tariffs,” a Tippah County farmer said.
“We’ve got 1100 acres of soybeans planted and we will be lucky to break even.”
There are other farmers throughout the region who are projecting massive losses, with one projecting a six figure loss on his soybean harvest.
More than 250,000 jobs depend on soybean production in the United States. With huge losses on the horizon and Chinese companies cancelling orders at an unseen rate, job losses in the farming sector are sure to follow the 25% tariff.
Soybeans prices are down 21% since the tariff was announced.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
