Their Soybeans Piling Up, Farmers Hope Trade War Ends Before Beans Rot

[DonViejo]

North Dakota’s soybean crops are flourishing. But China has stopped buying.

By Binyamin Appelbaum
Nov. 5, 2018

ARTHUR, N.D. — This is harvest season in the rich farmlands of the eastern Dakotas, the time of year Kevin Karel checks his computer first thing in the morning to see how many of his soybeans Chinese companies have purchased while he was sleeping.

Farmers here in Cass County have prospered over the last two decades by growing more soybeans than any other county in the United States, and by shipping most of those beans across the Pacific Ocean to feed Chinese pigs and chickens. But this year, the Chinese have all but stopped buying. The largest market for one of America’s largest exports has shut its doors. The Chinese government imposed a tariff on American soybeans in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods. The latest federal data, through mid-October, shows American soybean sales to China have declined by 94 percent from last year’s harvest.

Mr. Karel, the general manager of the Arthur Companies, which operates six grain elevators in eastern North Dakota, has started to pile one million bushels of soybeans on a clear patch of ground behind some of his grain silos. The big mound of yellowish-white beans, already one of the taller hills in this flat part of the world, will then be covered with tarps.

The hope is that prices will rise before the beans rot.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/business/soybeans-farmers-trade-war.html

[Achilleaze]

1. OMG! GMO beans up the wazoo !

invariably seasoned with great gloopy gobs O' glyphosate. Republicans have pissed on America's farmers and America's crops. Stupid and sad.

?99521

[dembotoz]

2. is karma soy bean based?

[Kurt V.]

3. i watch the farm report every Sunday morning.

Farmers are very unhappy with the tariffs and tRump.

[Blue_true]

8. But they will still vote republican, to try to give Trump more power.

Good luck to them, they must save themselves, right now they are not doing that.

[DURHAM D]

4. Good article -

Some farmers in North Dakota say they trust Mr. Trump to negotiate in the nation’s interest. Mr. Karel said many of his customers wear red “Make American Great Again” caps and insist that the pain of lost business and lower profits is worthwhile. They say they’ll suffer now so their children benefit later — echoing the argument Mr. Trump has made.

Others are less enthused. Greg Gebeke, who farms 5,000 acres outside Arthur with two of his brothers, said he struggled to understand the administration’s goals.

“I’m trying to follow and figure out who the winners are in this tariff war,” Mr. Gebeke said. “I know who one of the losers are and that’s us. And that’s painful.”

Interesting -

Some nations that grow soybeans, like Canada, are shipping their own beans to China at high prices and then buying American beans at lower prices to meet domestic demand. Taiwan, seeking to curry favor, signed a deal to buy more American soybeans over the next two years.

[empedocles]

5. Is it possible that some soybean farmer voter 'cons will change their minds by tomorrow?

[roamer65]

6. If I were an enterprising Canadian...

I would truck then into Canada under NAFTA and ship them to China the higher price.

[Historic NY]

7. Somehow I don't think China's coming back once the new sources start meeting their needs

If they do China will have the upper hand in regulating the price. Meanwhile claiming that the unjustified retaliation by foreign nations
for Trumps tariff war the government is buying up the food.

[link:https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2018/08/27/usda-announces-details-assistance-farmers-impacted-unjustified|]

[PubliusEnigma]

11. Someone else will grow those beans for a lower price

and American farmers will be forgotten by the time a new Administration attempts to undo the damage.

[Cicada]

9. Inexpensive big pile of soybeans for thanksgiving, yum yum

With prices so low I know we will all be stocking up at the grocery store. I know the damned things are healthy as hell. But I don’t know how to prepare them or where to buy them.

[womanofthehills]

14. North Dakota soybeans are not healthy as hell - they are TOXIC - sprayed with Roundup before harvest

even if not GMO. I only eat organic soy, and even some organic is contaminated from runoff and drift. The northern states use a lot of Roundup for drying their crops because of their shorter growing season. However, Florida uses lots of Roundup on it's sugarcane to dry it (ends up feeding the Red Tide too). Supposedly, spraying Roundup on sugar right before harvest makes it sweeter. How sick is that? So, it's also a good idea to buy organic sugar too. It's about a dollar more than non organic.

In the long run, this has to also hurt Monsanto/Bayer sales, I would hope.

Why Is Glyphosate Sprayed on Crops Right Before Harvest?

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, is recognized as the world's most widely used weed killer. What is not so well known is that farmers also use glyphosate on crops such as wheat, oats, edible beans and other crops right before harvest, raising concerns that the herbicide could get into food products.

Along with wheat and oats, glyphosate is used to desiccate a wide range of other crops including lentils, peas, non-GMO soybeans, corn, flax, rye, triticale, buckwheat, millet, canola, sugar beets and potatoes. Sunflowers may also be treated pre-harvest with glyphosate, according to the National Sunflower Association.

Benbrook says that a large portion of edible beans grown in Washington and Idaho are desiccated with glyphosate.
https://www.ecowatch.com/roundup-cancer-1882187755.html

[redstatebluegirl]

10. But they are still voting for Trump and his Republican enablers.

I have two cousins who farm the family farm in Illinois, they are both big Trump supporters, they say it will be painful for a while but he will fix it. Sheep, sheep sheep!

[Thrill]

12. Idiots

[hatrack]

13. Womp Womp!

Got what you voted for! Feeling better now?

[workinclasszero]

15. Thoughts and prayers Trump voting rubes/marks/idiots!

[womanofthehills]

16. China is now buying it's soybeans from Russia (Russia will be expanding it's growing of soybeans)

Plus, China is tightening its regulations on GMO soy and Russia is now the biggest producer of non-GMO soybeans. Russia plans to be the biggest producer of organic food.

China has purchased record amounts of soybeans from Russia in recent months amid trade tensions with the U.S., Bloomberg reported.

The world's biggest soybean importer, China has nearly tripled its imports from Russia, according to Bloomberg. Russian trade data show the country sold 850,000 metric tons of soybeans to China between July 2017 and mid-May this year.

The record sales represent more than twice the 340,000 tons sold during the previous growing period.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/388178-china-buys-record-amount-of-russian-soybeans-amid-halt-on-us-imports

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. Who could have predicted a Trump policy would benefit RUSSIA? n/t

[ck4829]

18. Hey since the economy's so robust now, those farmers should be able to sell that at discount, right?

[roamer65]

19. I suggest MI farmers switch to industrial hemp.

We will be legalizing the growth of it tomorrow.

[brooklynite]

20. I'm sure the folks in Trump's America would love some Tofurkey for Thanksgiving...

[Cousin Dupree]

21. We know a guy who has a soybean farm. He leases the land to a farmer. They share the profits

and each used to make $40,000 to $50,000 a year. Since Trump got involved, not enough profits to even cover their costs.