By Nathan Reineck/Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann Kuhlman
Reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration

Nearly a year after the start of a dramatic trade war between the U.S. and China, high tariffs are preventing Ohio farmers from selling many of their soybean crops, costing farmers their largest export to China.

“Just in our industry, that one commodity has cost farmers millions of dollars on lost income and revenue,” says Jack Irvin, a federal lobbyist with the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.

The trade war started last March with President Donald Trump’s introduction of steel tariffs, which he enacted with the intent of boosting the U.S. steel industry.

Chinese trade officials responded with a 25 percent tariff of their own on U.S. soybeans.

The tariff came as a shock to many farmers across the nation after 25 years of China’s increased purchasing of soybeans. Every third row of soybeans was going there, says Ben Klick, an Ohio farmer and member of the Ohio Corn and Wheat Growers Association.

China has consistently relied on large amounts of U.S. soybeans to supply its pork economy. Soybeans are commonly used in feed for pigs throughout the country.

Klick says he was lucky to get his soybeans to market before the tariffs were enacted. He says he still has other products he can sell, but unfortunately, some other farmers didn’t share in his luck.

Those who didn’t get their yields out in time have kept most of their soybeans in storage, waiting for the tariffs to be dropped.

Now, China has moved to buying soybeans from Argentina and Brazil, countries with growing agricultural sectors. Klick says the vast amount of soybeans imported to China from these two countries could boost them into top spots.

Klick adds he is worried because Argentina and Brazil can already plant crops more often than the U.S. and, with a few infrastructural improvements, they could take most of the market share.

“I know this trade war will end eventually, but, when it does, the issue that I see is will we, as farmers, be able to regain our access to China’s soybean import market,” Klick says.

This would prove a drastic setback, as Ohio farmers would lose a third of their buyers if they can’t win Chinese buyers back.

As farmers are getting ready to plant the next crop of soybeans, they don’t know if they can expect any trade with China, since the two countries have reached no trade deal.

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show soybean exports are down more than 90 percent under the trade dispute and U.S. farmers lost nearly $8 billion in the past year.

Steel production in the U.S. rose about 5 percent last year after tariffs on foreign steel were increased 25 percent.

While the tariffs have helped the U.S. steel industry grow, their impact reaches beyond just farmers. Irvin points out agriculture creates $120 billion in economic activity and 12 percent of jobs are related to the industry.

The average U.S. citizen will see price increases on all kinds of products until a deal is reached.

“Some people can come out ahead if you’re protected, but it spills over in lots of other ways to lots of other firms and lots of other people,” says C. Lockwood Reynolds, an economics professor at Kent State.

If a trade deal isn’t resolved between leaders by early March, farmers will likely see even higher tariffs introduced.

“They both [U.S. and China] want what they want, and they look out for their people and they’re not going to give to each other,” Klick says.

Chinese buyers want U.S. soybeans, Klick notes, but won’t buy them until the tariffs are removed. Klick says he believes in the president and that’s why he voted for him, but says it’s unfortunate to be on the losing end of the deal.

And Klick notes there is only a matter of time before the president shifts his focus back to re-election in 2020 and trade is not at the top of his priorities anymore.

“I know there’s a greater good behind what we call this ‘market strategy’ but if I had to sit down with some Chinese grain buyers right now, I would ensure that if things get back to what I would consider normal that we would be ready with open arms to work side by side with them and get some great quality soybeans back into their country,” he says. “A very wise man once told my grandfather one time ‘You don’t fight with another country over food, they don’t forget stuff like that.’”

The Agriculture Department approved about $12 billion to assist farmers impacted by tariffs.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by The George Gund Foundation.



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The long-delayed Farm Bill could benefit Virginia farmers by renewing funding for climate-smart investments, but it's been held up for months in Congress.

Some lawmakers want this bill to expand funding for such programs as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP, which gives financial and technical help to farmers and ranchers to make conservation a priority. About $250 million was allocated for the program, but more than 9,000 applications were submitted, bringing it to $475 million.

Gabrielle Walton, federal campaign associate with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said these programs' popularity proves their necessity.

"This money allows them not only to practice more efficiently - and to preserve the environment that they love so much and they're so attached to - but it also saves them money that they can devote to other concerns," she said, "and provides them stability for their pocketbooks going forward."

One issue with the new Farm Bill is a proposed increase in so-called "reference pricing," which critics have said only benefits large farming operations and would come at the expense of more widely used social and climate-smart programs.

Walton said she thinks political divisiveness and competing priorities have held up the new Farm Bill.

The previous Farm Bill was extended to this September, but lawmakers have said they aim to have a bill ready by Memorial Day. Along with climate-smart investments, the Farm Bill also funds social safety-net programs.

Geoff Horsfield, a policy director at the Environmental Working Group, said people don't always know how helpful nutrition programs are to families.

"There's a misconception that things like SNAP only benefit urban communities," he said, "and we just know that that's not true - that folks in all counties rely on nutrition assistance programs, some of these social programs, to be able to make ends meet."

SNAP and other nutrition programs received 75% of funding in the 2018 Farm Bill. More than 876,000 Virginians use SNAP and EBT benefits, since food insecurity has been a longstanding issue in the state.

Today, groups working with lower-income families in Connecticut are raising awareness about the state's "benefits cliff" with a day of action.

The benefits cliff is when a person might get a raise, have a kid with a part-time job, or some other income increase which then makes them ineligible for certain benefits. The changes can have severe impacts on communities and disproportionately affect families with children.

Stephen Monroe Tomczak, professor of social work at Southern Connecticut State University, said it is part of a larger workforce problem.

"People, particularly people of low income, are in a sense disincentivized to participate in the labor force and denied adequate jobs and income when they try to do that," Tomczak explained.

Several General Assembly budget bills could have dealt with the issue but most failed, which inspired today's action, a mock funeral procession to the governor's office to eulogize the bills, including the refundable Child Tax Credit, a housing voucher funding boost bill, and a bill eliminating the asset limit on the HUSKY C medical insurance program.

Social service advocates know the bills will resurface in next year's budget process.

Rose Ferraro, program lead of health justice policy advocacy for the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, said people are taking alternate steps like going to food banks or avoiding medical care to cover lost benefits.

"Folks will lose their rental assistance and then, they will sort of have to make some tough decisions," Ferraro noted. "'Do I put food on my table or do I make sure to pay rent?' And, so it becomes a sort of untenable position."

Ferraro added interwoven state and federal funding makes it hard to reach the core of the issues leading to benefits cliffs. One eulogized bill would have established a benefits cliff pilot program. For two years, it would have provided subsistence for people who've reached the benefits cliff.

New York towns are reaping many benefits since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.

Along with funds for larger clean energy projects, the state was awarded $158 million for the IRA's Home Energy Rebates program.

Smaller towns and villages use these grants to implement their climate action plans.

Brighton Town Councilmember Robin Wilt said an IRA grant they applied for will help upgrade the town's HVAC system.

"We will be implementing geothermal and then use a solar array to make the system close to net zero, not quite," said Wilt. "I think we'll get 55% of our energy back with the solar panels."

The bureaucratic process to access the funding was challenging, but some groups are working with the Department of Energy to improve it.

Wilt said feedback on the clean energy projects has been positive. Future projects using IRA funding include increasing walkability and sustainable redevelopment.

Critics have said the IRA includes multiple provisions to increase fossil fuel production.

Towns nationwide are using IRA grants to bolster clean energy projects.

Joel Hicks is a council member for the Borough of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

They've just applied for a grant to work on energy efficiency and solar projects with Harrisburg. He said this will have positive impacts beyond establishing clean energy.

"We were really excited at this potential," said Hicks, "because we saw that the cost savings we would have for putting in substantial solar projects on our public property would actually fund many of our other public municipal goals."

These include purchasing an electric vehicle fleet and having more efficient solid waste programs.

One thing Hicks said he wants to see in future is state and local governments helping small towns and municipalities with putting together their IRA grant proposals.