U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) assured CNN anchor John Berman that farmers are enduring the collapse of the U.S. soybean market, despite President Donald Trumpdisrupting all sales to their biggest international buyer.
“I was at the Farm Aid concert in Minnesota, and we've been hearing from soybean farmers on the show and farmers in general. They say that these farms could go under soon if they don't get help,” Bergman told Johnson. Fortune reports a "crisis" in the farm economy as bankruptcies "soar."
But Johnson said South Dakota farmers are “a little more resilient than that,” despite South Dakota farmers harvesting 217 million bushels of soybeans in 2023 — a 13 percent increase over 2022, which covers more than 5 million acres of state land.
“They are feeling the economic strain. Their bankers and financial partners are feeling the economic strain,” Johnson said, “but the Trump administration has stepped forward and has said, ‘we're generating billions of dollars of tariff revenues with these trade disputes. It only makes sense to use some of those tariff dollars to shave off the most jagged edges of the trade war impact on farmers.’ That's what we're going to do.”
Johnson, a Republican who is also running for South Dakota governor, argued that he was willing for farmers to endure some economic tension to upend the skewed international soybean market.
“We should not give China a free pass just because they buy a lot of soybeans,” said Johnson. “… We've seen how China is methodically, systematically attempting to poison our networks — our kids really — undermine a lot of key American principles and values. … We want to have a relationship where they don't have too much leverage over us.”
Johnson confirmed that “there is not a single order of soybeans that has been purchased this harvest season from South Dakota flowing to China,” and called that fact “absolutely unprecedented.” However, he insisted the nation needs to “increase domestic crush.”
“We need to sign more bilateral trade deals with other countries. And we do need to get some sort of a fair deal with China,” Johnson said.