North Carolina soybean farmers are “feel[ing] tariffs’ bite” and saying the Michael Whatley-backed trade war will “hurt [their] bottom line.”
Whatley has refused to stand up for farmers as the trade war drives up costs and “squeez[es] farmers’ budgets.” Whatley has called the tariffs “record setting in terms of […] effectiveness” and supports them “wholeheartedly.”
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Spectrum News: N.C. soybean farmers who sell to China feel tariffs’ bite
David Ivey | October 17, 2025
- Barnes and his workers are harvesting about 1,800 acres of several varieties of soybeans.
- He said it’ll take two to three weeks to complete that task. Normally this would be an exciting time for him, but not so much this year.
- “It’s kind of depressing,” he said. “Because we got a really good soybean crop, for the most part. But the price of soybeans are in the tank right now.”
- One of the biggest buyers of the American soybean crop are the Chinese — the N.C. Soybean Producers Association says China usually buys more than 25% of U.S. soybeans every year.
- This year with the tariff standoff, that’s not happening. Barnes says that’s going to hurt his bottom line.
- “But at this point in the game, all I can do is harvest the crop and do the best I can and market them for what I can,” he said. “Without the Chinese buying U.S. soybeans, we’re losing a big customer of our crop.”
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