The president of the Iowa Soybean Association says, like many other farmers, he has mixed feelings about the U.S. trade dispute with China. Bill Shipley says there are many long-running trade issues with China that needed to be addressed. “I agree that we need to take on the inequality of trade we have with China, and I think most farmers do,” Shipley says. “We just want a free and open, level market – and they don’t want to do that. They want everything in their favor.”

But, that resolve to fix trade issues starts to waiver as soybean prices continue to decline. Shipley, who farms nears the southwest Iowa town of Nodaway, says his local cash price for soybeans – assuming average yields – is more than a dollar under his cost of production. “That doesn’t bode well for what my banker thinks, or anybody else,” Shipley says. “I’m going to have to eat into equity to stay alive – to stay in farming.”

Shipley is hopeful the two countries can find a resolution to the trade dispute before additional tariffs go into effect July 6. China is a critical market for Iowa soybean growers. The country buys about 60-percent of all the soybeans traded in the world.

(Radio Iowa)