The American farming community was already a bit stressed before the Trade Wars kicked off.
In 2017 there was a global grain glut, thanks to bumper harvests. It was the third successive year of surpluses in corn, wheat, rice and soy as farmers worldwide overproduced thanks to good weather.
The result was that prices fell. To make matters worse, in 2017 both China and Russia sold off some of their stockpiles of grain as bumper harvests meant they didn't need to worry so much about food security. Some farmers decided to store their grain rather than sell at rock bottom prices, and silos sprang up all over the globe.
Part of the reason China might be so willing to put tariffs on American soybeans, is that they had a bumper harvest of their own last year, and want to protect the prices for their own farmers.
So in 2018, American farmers have reacted by planting less and just leaving fields fallow to recover. This is having a knock-on effect on suppliers of seeds like Monsanto, and seed co-operatives. The same for suppliers of fertiliser.
For those who have planted, they can console themselves that at least the grain glut will drop and their prices will rise.
Despite China's bumper harvest last year, they arn't really food sufficient. So they need to import food regardless.
Yes. Especially as their middle classes want to eat more than rice and vegetables.
That's a good point about China having a bumper harvest last year. Of course that's the reason they're putting tariffs on grain, nothing to do with retaliation against Trump.
Yes. Though if the weather turns, they're going to be faced with buying expensive grain due to their own tariffs.
So - this is going to hurt China more than the US?