"I didn't expect to see nothing alive": Farmers hit hard by historic Midwest flooding

You should check out the soybean prices from the last 10 years. During the drought years, the price of soybeans went sky high. And then, at the end of the drought in 2014, prices crashed. Just looking at the market prices, you can hardly tell where Trump's tariffs began.

https://www.nasdaq.com/markets/soybean.aspx?timeframe=10y

 

You may not be aware but China has never been particularly consistent in their importation of US commodities. They have played games like this over other issues including non approved genetic traits, etc.

The price of soybeans has fallen by almost 50% since the highs of 2012. It is simply supply and demand. There was some decrease from tariffs but in the grand scheme of things it’s a non event. The difference will be made up in the future with interest. That is the point.

I stated soybean quality not protein content. Overall quality of US beans is second to none. Even higher protein soybeans from Brazil often have lower ratios of utilizable amino acids in feed rations.

Consistency of US beans is also unmatched by any competitor.

China investing in vulnerable places all over the world is a concern to me as well. Our policies in regards to China stunk long before Trump. I agree he needs to do more but his predecessors really jacked things up.

 

Internally china is chaotic and rather unhappy

Its external policy is merchantilist straight out of the 17th Certury

Which is to attack foreign nations markets and industry while protecting its own

China is a real threat to the US economically, politically and militarily

 

They only flood when there is water.

 

at least I think Trump wont need to be prodded to help them like he was PR

 

The crooked and lying politicians have sold out our country to china.

 

No one is blaming Trump for the flooding.....

side note..... King was acting himself again I see... Sad!

 

Rather than selling the crop right away as they pull it out of the ground -- as they do almost every harvest season to pay the bills -- they are instead stashing it in silos, containers, bins, bags, whatever they can get their hands on to keep it safe and dry.

The hope is that over the next few months, trade tensions will ease, and China, the top market for the oilseed, will start buying from American farmers again, lifting depressed prices in the process. A bushel of soybeans fetched just $8.87 on Friday. Eight months ago, before trade tensions led to tariffs, it was about $2 more.

https://www.farmprogress.com/soybean/us-farmers-storing-soybeans

 

Ok. About 1/3 of my income is derived from growing and then marketing soybeans. Do you know what else occurred in the last eight months that has a negative effect on soybean prices?

Do you know what has been happening over at least the last two growing seasons in relation to storage of corn on farm and in commercial and cooperative elevators?

Did you know every one of the farmers trying to store soybeans at harvest had the option to sell them anytime beforehand when prices were higher?

Did you know the wet fall experienced by most producers limited their ability to prepare ground for corn production this spring raising concerns intended corn acres may be planted to soybeans? Continuing wet weather now is compounding that concern.

My point is while tariffs are having a small negative impact on markets they are only a very small piece of the pie.

I get that people like to blame Trump for all problems and don’t want to accept the fact trade with China needed to be addressed. But actual soybean producers like myself and my neighbors are thankful for Trump’s action on China.

 

It's just part of the long-term cost of doing business in that area.

You use that land, you deal with periodic devastation and inherent risk.

For some farmers it might be more economical to move away from the flood prone areas, but then water access may be hard to come by.

There are of course potential ways farmers could better prepare for those floods, but those things might not be considered economical. For example, if only animals were not penned up in small spaces and there was an earthen hill mound for them to go up on and escape the flood waters.

 

I'd like to hear about all that. Really I would.

But if your going to try and tell me that when you biggest customer cuts orders by 50% and a lot of those beans are now in underwater storage, save that part for last.

 

You are entitled to your opinion. I’m just putting information out there for those with an interest in more than the anti Trump narrative.

 

No tRUMP mentioned anywhere in the OP, but you have to imply that was what was being said.
Poor you.

 

In that case the problem isn't so bad then.
If demand decreases, that shouldn't affect things so much if the supply has already decreased.

 

Plenty of ground beef with all those animals who drowned though.

 

Exports of wheat and soybeans to China are not real job creators to the U.S. economy. Profits mostly going to very large Agricultural corporations. The farm work there is mostly mechanized or done by undocumented Mexican farm hands.

 

I was sincere. I would like to hear about it. You will seldom see me turn down good information, but I just hate BS.

 

No not really, but they are a pretty good chunk of our exports to China. If I remember correctly the whole intent of this fiasco was to improve the trade deficit.

Another causualty of automation.

 

Very astute. Cull cows are flooding sale barns and will for weeks. There should be plenty of ground beef for a while. But steaks may be more expensive in the next year and a half!

 

Fair enough. I appreciate your concern for producers. Most believe they are evil corporations and would prefer they suffer. That is another misconception but irrelevant here.

I’m sure you know there are seasonal price swings in commodity markets. There is a marketing saying that goes “large crops get larger and small crops get smaller”. We have had large crops the last two seasons so prices going into harvest deteriorated.

Because of low prices and record crops a lot of normally available storage this fall was still full of corn from last year. I personally had 20,000 bushels of corn carryover that I didn’t get marketed last summer. I am fortunate that I can store two years of production if I have to so I was not short of storage, but for others it forces them into less than ideal sales strategies.

I’ll grant you the timing of the tariffs effect on soybean prices was not ideal. Combined with massive carryover and seasonal downturns it looks really bad on paper. But it is still a minor contributing factor to farm income decreases.

Most Ag producers have benefited greatly from Trump’s work on stopping regulations in the pipeline. Some would have allowed EPA to fine producers out of existence for things like dust escaping a field during harvesting or tillage operations which of course is impossible.

In the spirit of this thread, there were also regs in the offering that could have allowed the EPA to fine/shut down operations for something as mundane as diverting water away from a building or livestock in weather events like we are experiencing now.

As I already mentioned most producers have been waiting for someone to straighten trade out and will be patient. Overall Trump has been good for agriculture so far.