U.S. soybean farmers struggle without China as top buyer: WSJ

[Soybean plants with young pods in a field against a blue sky on a sunny day. Agricultural soybean plant. Selective focus.]
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American soybean growers are bracing for financial pain as they bring in a near-record harvest without their biggest customer, China. Farmers say the loss of Chinese demand, once accounting for more than half of the $24.5 billion U.S. soybean export market, has left them with shrinking prices and mounting uncertainty, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

Illinois farmer Ron Kindred, who is halfway through his harvest, warned that prices will “collapse” without a trade deal. He has contracts for about 40% of his crop, but the rest is at risk as local prices continue to fall.

China has avoided new U.S. soybean purchases for months, turning instead to Brazil and Argentina. From January through August, Chinese imports of U.S. soybeans totaled just over 200 million bushels, down from nearly a billion in the same period last year.

Washington is weighing another farmer bailout, potentially $10 billion to $14 billion, funded partly by tariff revenue. President Trump said he plans to announce support measures soon, and the Agriculture Department pledged to use all tools available to keep farms operating.

With China’s market closed, growers are pushing aggressively into smaller export markets. Farmers like Kindred and Iowa’s Morey Hill have traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Morocco to promote U.S. soybeans as animal and fish feed. While new buyers in places like Egypt, Bangladesh, and Tunisia are emerging, they cannot yet replace China’s scale.

The financial strain is real. Farmer Robb Ewoldt said his operation requires about $1.3 million each year just to cover debt and expenses. Others are exiting altogether: Illinois farmer Dean Buchholz, facing rising costs and low prices, said 2025 will be his final season.

“I always thought I would farm till they threw dirt on top of me,” Buchholz told the Journal. “I can’t make it work to where it would be practical to keep going without me spending a boatload of money and keep putting myself into more debt.”

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