LOUISIANA SOYBEANS - Last month China introduced a tariff on American soybeans, making them 25% more expensive for Chinese buyers so they stopped importing them. The tariff was in retaliation to tariffs on Chinese goods ordered by President Trump.
Now Louisiana farmers plant more soybeans per acre than any other row crop in the state. So how will all this impact Louisiana farmers? Mike Strain is Louisiana's Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, he spoke with Baton Rouge Public Radio WRKF about Louisiana’s Soy Bean business AND explained why he’s hopeful President Trump’s trade policy will produce long-term benefits for Louisiana soybean farmers.
Commissioner Strain explained "The soybean industry, if you look by actual acreage is the largest row crop in the state; 1.2 million acres. We have about 8 million acres in what we call our row crops. CorN, beans,
cotton; that sort of thing, so 1.2 million acres of soybeans. It's our largest it's the largest crop as far as a row crop industry, over $700 million in production. So soybeans are big business in Louisiana.
Commissioner Strain was asked to comment on the government's $12 billion farm aid package as a means to help farmers weather the storm during the trade war. Here's what he had to say:
"We have to keep our farmers whole or help them so we can be back in next year's production. But again, we have to stand toe-to-toe."
Commissioner Strain added, "I think at the end of the day it's going to produce higher prices and I know that when you're looking at you don't have enough money to pay the bank, that's very hard . But we cannot back up now, we cannot. Because ifwe back up now, then we will be at the mercy of China, we will be at the mercy of all these other entities on our commodities on all of our other trade."
