America's soybean farmers are panicking over the loss of Chinese buyers

China hasn't booked any U.S. soybean purchases in months; farmers warn of 'bloodbath'

- Patrick Thomas

American soybean farmers are in panic mode as they harvest what is expected to be a bumper crop without their biggest customer: China.

"We'll see the bottom drop out if we don’t get a deal with China soon," said Ron Kindred, who farms 1,700 acres of corn and soybeans in central Illinois. "There doesn’t seem to be any urgency on China’s side, and more urgency coming from the farm community in the U.S."

Kindred is about halfway through harvesting this year’s soybean crop. He has a contract to sell about 40% of his harvest, but the other 60% is a gamble. Prices in his area are already dropping, he said.

Rising costs for equipment and fertilizer, and a glut of corn and soybeans, were already squeezing farmers' balance sheets. Congress in December passed a $10 billion bailout for farmers. The Trump administration is considering allocating $10 billion to $14 billion more to farmers to help mitigate fallout from this year's trade battles, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

President Trump said at the White House on Monday that he was "going to do some farm stuff this week" to help growers cope with the loss of exports to China.

Trump is expected to meet later this week with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to make a final determination of where the money for a farmer bailout should come from, according to a White House official. The president and his team are considering the use of tariff revenue to fund much of the aid.

An Agriculture Department spokesman said the president is using all tools available to ensure farmers have what they need to continue their farming operations.