The farmers weigh Trump's trade war like the weather and wait for things to do | News, sports, jobs

Dan Glessing by Minnesota Farm Bureau invites soybeans to his planter (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave) on Thursday, May 8, 2025 near Waverly, Minnesota.

Waverly, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota farmer Dan Glessing is not ready to upset himself about President Donald Trump's trade wars.

Farm Country voted for Trump last November last November. Now Glessing and many other farmers use a waiting-and lake attitude towards the disputes of the Republican President with China and other international markets.

China would usually buy about a number of four of the soybean harvest in Minnesota and took soybeans worth almost 13 billion US dollars from the USA as a whole last year. More than half of US soybeans are exported internationally, with around half of those going to China, so it is a critical market.

In the past month, Trump increased US tariffs to 145%products from China and renovated China with 125%. However, the announcement of a 90-day ceasefire between the two countries on Monday supported the reluctance of many farmers to press the panic button.

Further good news came on Monday in an updated forecast by the US Agriculture Ministry, in which higher corn exports and only slightly lower corn prices forecast. The report also predicted somewhat lower soybean exports, but higher domestic consumption, which leads to higher prices. Soybeans -futures climbed.

In this picture from video, Matt Griggs fills his tractor on Monday, May 5, 2025, on his farm in Humboldt. Grigg, like many American farmers on the trade war between the USA and China, a critical market for soybeans. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)

After planting his soybean harvest on Monday, Glessing said that he was enthusiastic about the news and hope to make more progress. But he said he wasn't really surprised.

Customs, weather and other uncertainty

On a bright, sunny day last week, when he started planting soybeans, Glessing said that the tariffs were only one of the things he worried – and not necessarily the biggest. After all, agriculture is a company that is built on loose ground, the moods of the weather and other uncontrollable factors.

“Am I concerned about tariffs? Yes. I mean, that is uncertainty with it,” said Glessing. “Is that the driving factor number one in these poor raw material prices in the past two years?”

When he steered his 25th anniversary over a gentle rolling field near the city of Wabling, he dragged a planter to use his seeds by the stubble of the corn harvest of the past year. When he lay down the long rows, he rumbled past a pond where wild swans paddled.

The Corgi was a shotbeaous shotgun, who alternated between the roaming around his taxi and half a ladies to his feet.

Perhaps Matt Griggs, one of many soybean farmers in Tennessee, who pays attention to the trade war, is perhaps more skeptical. On Monday he said the Ripple effects on farmers could still come.

“We only have a 90-day break,” said Griggs. “Who knows what will come afterwards?”

Joe Janzen, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois, said that the raw material markets had largely shaked the initial shock of the trade war, including the explanation of Trump on April 2 as “liberation day”, when he announced stiff global tariffs.

“Our markets have largely recovered and are again where we were around April,” said Janiszen. “The tariffs still have no major influence on prices.”

Even something that may appear like good news – ideal planting conditions in the entire middle west – has its disadvantage. The potential for larger cultures sent the prices down and found. High interest rates, seed and fertilizer costs represent additional challenges.

“There are so many other factors except tariffs and my market price,” said Glessing.

Looking for signs of progress

But Glessing said he was encouraged by the news this morning by a trade agreement with the United Kingdom and hopes that the current uncertainty in discussions with China and other countries will ultimately lead to better trade agreements in the future.

The day before, Glessing had planted its corn on the other half of a field, which he rents from his father's cousin, which was shared between 45 acres of corn and 45 hectares of beans. It is on the farm on which his grandfather grew up, and it is part of the approximately 700 hectares that he plants on average. He blocked these plant decisions months earlier when he did business for seeds, fertilizer and other supplies.

Back on his “home farm” closer to Wavery – where the house of his late grandfather stood from local brick stone, there was still and a cacophony of House Sparrow songs filled the air – it was pleased to see the first signs of corn that he nudged there about 10 days earlier.

Wavery is about an hour west of Minneapolis. The most famous resident was the democratic former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. It is located in the congress district, which is represented by the majority of the Republican house majority Tom Emmer.

Glessings position as President of the Minnesota Farm Bureau also put him in contact with other influential politicians. He and his wife Seena were the guests of the democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar in Capitol for the inauguration of Trump in January. Glessing declined to say who he voted for.

The glyings have four children, milk about 75 dairy cows and build corn, soybeans and Alfalfa on a combination of packages that they own or rent. He mainly uses the Alfalfa and corn to feed his cows. He sells his soybeans to a processing plant in Mankato, in which some of them become soybean food, which he extends to his animal feed. The milk from its cows goes to a co-op cheese plant in Litchfield that sells internationally.

Since local buyers are enclosed in Glessing and their plants do not export directly, it is partly polished by the volatility of the world markets. But he quickly points out that everything is connected to each other in the agricultural economy.

Lessons that were drawn during Trump's first trade war

On his farm near Humboldt, Tennessee, roughly in the middle between Memphis and Nashville, Griggs weathered the 2018 trade war during Trump's first term and said he is more prepared this time.

“As early as 2018, prices were about the same as what they are now, and due to the trade war with China, prices went by around 15%,” he said. “They fell significantly lower and have dropped it in a hurry, and for this reason we have lost a lot of demand from China.”

According to Griggs, exports to China never fully recovered. But he does not believe that the effects of the current dispute will be almost as drastic.

Griggs, who raised cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat about 1,600 acres, said the tariffs were only a consideration when he planned this year's harvest. If you grow a variety of plants, the risk is minimized that goes hand in hand with weather, volatile prices and now the prospect of a trade war.

Griggs said he would have to be sold if market volatility leads to the increase in prices.

“The main thing that I learned in 2018 was that if you have a price time in which the prices have risen some, and use it instead of waiting for it to be higher,” said Griggs. “Because when it comes to tariffs and everything, the markets can be very unpredictable. So my learned lesson was:” Do not be able to stand up to a homerun, be satisfied with a double. “

He said that a temporary subsidy called the market moderation program soybean farmers helped to withstand some of the last losses last time if something similar is revived this year. But he said no farmer wanted to make a living from government subsidies.

“We just want fair access to markets,” said Griggs. “And a fair price for the products we produce.”