By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER

Ohio Correspondent

WORTHINGTON, Ohio—There’s no clear winner in the escalating trade war between the United States and China, but Ohio soybean farmers are a certain loser – since retaliatory tariffs were put in place last year, their commodity prices have dropped 20-25 percent.

On May 1, the U.S. increased tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, from 10 to 25 percent. It is also taking steps for an additional 25 percent tariff on the remaining $325 billion in annual imports from China. China announced plans to retaliate.

“We’re already in tough economic times, and things are tight on the farm,” said Scott Metzger, president of the Ohio Soybean Assoc. (OSA) “We realize that there is an unfair trade situation with China, but we would rather take the tariffs off and fix that through policy procedures.

“It’s discouraging; you’re planting a crop and right off the bat you’re at a loss because you’re that much under the cost of production.”

Farmers understand the need to address unfair trade practices against China or elsewhere, but the tariffs are unnecessarily putting them in the crosshairs, said Kirk Merritt, executive director of the OSA. Farmers and politicians need to consider short- and long-term implications, he said.

“Short-term, the next round of the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) has been announced, but we don’t know what it is going to look like,” he added. “Certainly farmers need help, short-term. A lot of farmers are going to be challenged financially this year, so we welcome the MFP payments, but that’s a Band-Aid.”

Farmers have been working to build Chinese soybean markets for decades, even before some of today’s growers were born, Merritt said. And it began to pay off.

“We built that market to where it was a significant opportunity, so longer-term, how do we get that market back?” he asked. “Also, longer-term, how do we keep some of the markets that we see some increases in?

“Although exports overall are down significantly when you include China, when you don’t include China, our exports to the rest of the world, are up. It’s a silver lining. So how do we keep those markets, while we build China back up as a market?”

China is buying soybeans from other markets, especially Brazil, Merritt explained. U.S. exports to China are down 80 percent from more than a year ago, before the tariffs took effect; Brazil’s exports to China are up significantly.

Another issue is the national level of unsold surplus soybeans in storage, he said.  That amount has gone from about 500 million bushels to almost 1 billion. That continues to put pressure on soybean prices.

“That surplus of our crop has to go somewhere, eventually,” he said. “That is another significant concern even after we resolve this current trade situation.”

He pointed out farmers don’t farm for MFP payments. They would rather have an environment back in which they can trade with China.