AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
An agreement between the U.S. and China is seen as a positive step but its details remain unclear. China retaliated by halting U.S. soybean imports, worth $13 billion annually, favoring South American countries. This threatens U.S. farmers long-term as China invests heavily in those regions, potentially leading to unsustainable deforestation. Grobmyer emphasizes the need for “fair trade practices” alongside open markets. He urges Congress and President Trump to provide immediate economic aid to struggling farmers, possibly through tariff revenue, and to pass a new Farm Bill to prevent further farm losses.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
“I think we are still gaining an understanding of what agreement has been reached,” he said.
In retaliation, the Chinese stopped importing American grown soybeans. Last year, the country imported $13 billion worth of soybeans from the U.S. or about 24 million metric tons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Grobmyer said the deal is a positive step towards “thawing” relationships between the two countries and he’s optimistic this will give farmers a chance to sell commodities to the Chinese. But they are notorious for back tracking on trade deals, and he’s seen nothing about a pullback from their soybean trade with South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina.
China has been pouring money and other resources into building farms and infrastructure in those countries, he said. The country has been increasingly buying soybeans from those countries and that will negatively impact U.S. farmers long term, he said.
Trade negotiations will hopefully open new international markets, but allowing the deforestation of the rain forests in South America to build soybean, cotton and other types of farms will give international producers an unfair advantage on world markets when compared to their U.S. counterparts.
“We need trade … but we also need fair trade practices,” he said.
During the short term, Congress and President Trump need to find a way to funnel economic assistance to farmers who are struggling, Grobmyer said. One way might be to take money collected through record-setting tariffs and create assistance programs.
Congress hasn’t passed a new Farm Bill since 2018 and a new one needs to be passed, he said. It’s been estimated that Arkansas could lose about one third of its farms by the spring of 2026 if conditions don’t improve.
In the near future, not much has changed, Grobmyer added.
“A lot of producers across the state have lost money this year … it’s not sustainable,” he said.
