Trade war draws a line between Minnesota soybean farmers, and a wide price gap appears [View all]

The trade war with China is falling hardest on soybean farmers west and northwest of the Twin Cities, who are being offered substantially less money than farmers in southern Minnesota this fall.

A wide gap has opened in soybean prices around the state just as farmers are bringing in the 2018 harvest.

Soybeans grown to the north and west of the metro area for years have been shipped to the Pacific Northwest to be loaded on ships to Asia. But China, the biggest importer of Minnesota soybeans, this summer slapped tariffs on U.S. soybeans in retaliation for those imposed by the U.S. on steel and aluminum in May.

"I've been calling them refugee soybeans. They were really grown with the intent of exporting them to China," said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition.

Read more: https://www.nwitimes.com/business/trade-war-draws-a-line-between-minnesota-soybean-farmers-and/article_f2ba438b-ae05-59bc-8d90-f3f62a49330a.html