A series of tariffs imposed by President Trump is pushing soybean prices down and impacting farmers across Alabama.

While the president has reached a truce until Jan. 1 with China, the world’s largest customer for American-grown soybeans, the price per bushel remains down and there is no indication that those sales are beginning to return.

China last year purchased about 60 percent of U.S. soybean exports in deals valued at more than $12 billion. With those exports gone, soybean prices had tumbled to their lowest in a decade, leaving farmers looking at other options in the next growing season. China tacked on a 25 percent tariff on soybeans in response to Trump’s moves.

“The problem with tariffs is that the new markets you found are hard to get back when the tariff ends. It opens the door for other countries to ramp up production of that same product and step in to take your place,” said Eddie McGriff, an agronomist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension office in Cullman.

The larges competitor in producing soybeans for Alabama and other American farmers is Brazil, which is already rising up to fill the demand in China, he said.

“We’ve seen conditions or circumstances in the past that caused farmers to lose markets,” McGriff said. “In the 1970s, there was concern in our country that there wouldn’t be enough grains for our needs, so President Carter cancelled an agreement with the former Soviet Union to ship grains. We lost that market. And again, in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, an agreement was canceled and our farmers were displaced.

McGriff said the issue with trading partners for American-produced products is that once tariffs are raised or agreements are broken, the trust to rely on that market again, even after new agreements are reached, is often lost.

Many Alabama farmers are already seeing the negative impact of the tariffs and are looking at producing more cotton, and possibly corn, next year, he added.

“It’s hurting us now, so I think you will see more cotton. The demand overseas is tremendous for cotton, because right now the demand is larger than what is being produced worldwide,” McGriff said.

Passage of the Farm Bill on Wednesday promises to bring some relief to farmers, but that is through increased subsidies and does not address the ongoing tariff issue.

Soybeans were yielding up to $11 per bushel as demand grew in China and other locations, but the tariffs have taken the price down to $9.

“Soybeans are just a big product in producing animal feed as well as other things,” McGriff said. “We’re being displaced because of the tariffs. With the depressed price in soybeans, you will see a shift in production from Alabama farmers and all over.”

Alabama farmers enjoyed a record-high yield of 46 bushels of soybeans per acre in 2017, which was a 21 percent increase. That production raised the crop’s value by nearly $26.5 million — from $129 million in 2016 to $155.5 million last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

The USDA also reported that Alabama farmers increased production of crops overall by 11 percent in 2017, amounting to a $100 million up tick that was well above the national trend.

McGriff said it is possible to see a 15 percent increase in cotton production next year.

David Palmer may be contacted at 256-734-2131, ext. 116.