Thousands of SC soybean farmers face big financial losses amid Trump’s tariffs
In an 800-acre field in Sumter, flowers begin to bloom and pods begin to grow: This is what soybeans look like mid-season during early August.
“It’s making its crop right now,” said John Rivers, of Rivers Farms.
Come November, these soybeans will be harvested and sold mostly to a local feed company. What price they will bring is anyone’s guess.
The Chicago Board of Trade sets the prices, and last year, Rivers sold his soybeans at about $10.30 per bushel. This summer, soybean prices have dropped in the wake of a U.S.-China trade war spurred by tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. The current price is $8.94 per bushel. China’s retaliatory tariffs against American exports will hurt soybean and pork producers, The Associated Press reported.
As a result, Rivers has sold only 10 percent of his crop so far. If he sells all of his crop at the $8.94 per bushel price in November, he will have lost an annual profit of about $80,000. Soybeans have become the third-largest cash crop in South Carolina, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
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