It's harvest time for Kentucky's grain farmers, but they'll be hard pressed to turn a profit because China is not buying American soybeans.

It's gotten so bad.

President Donald Trump says a government bailout for farmers could be announced as early as tomorrow.

Our June Lefler reports that some farmers say they need help now.

It's warm and dusty in the soybean fields for two months, round the clock.

McIsaac will run the combine.

He cuts the stocks and separates the beans from the pods.

His farm hand collects the beans and carries them over rolling fields towards the road.

Put it on the truck and send it to Jeffersonville, Indiana, to consolidate grain and barge.

They put it on a barge and ship it down to the Gulf.

But the going price for soybeans is low and likely won't rebound soon.

It's a free market, and so the price is decided by trading.

And, you know, it's just like anything else, you've got too much supply and not enough demand.

The price is going to be low.

Why the low demand?

China isn't buying.

So 25% of our soybeans in general for the United States or exported to China.

And basically this entire year, China has not bought a single soybean.

President Donald Trump's trade policy has meant reciprocal tariffs between China.

So the soybeans China needs to feed its pigs are coming from Brazil and other South American countries instead.

We're running quick calculation on a soybean acre this year and estimate losses for each producer to be somewhere between 100 and $200 per acre.

With that math, guys, it could be missing out on more than $100,000.

So that's causing a lot of stress in farm country across the U.S.

because the prices are just depressed right now to a point where a lot of people aren't making any money.

Prominent Kentucky Republicans do not support Trump's trade war.

U.S.

Senator Mitch McConnell says it's hurting customers and businesses, including farmers.

But Kentucky's top agriculture official supports Trump's moves.

Commissioner Jonathan Schell says, quote, For decades, our trade deals left America at the mercy of countries that didn't always have our best interests at heart.

When you look at China, for example, it's not just about buying soybeans.

It's about intellectual property theft, buying up farmland and creating instability around the globe.

The president's approach is about protecting our sovereignty while still working to expand markets for our farmers.

This farmer says he can't wait for a trade war to become a trade deal.

Whether you support them or not, there's things that you can agree with and disagree with.

And I'll say that, you know, a lot of his trade policies right now because it's hurting the farm country so bad.

I'm kind of I'm at a point where I'm, you know, I'd say disagree with them.

I know President Trump had put out a tweet or whatever you call it, that he's going to meet with China in four weeks, four weeks and a long time away.

The strains of farming are here and now Inflation is high and so are loan interest rates because we buy things and our input costs are up 60% since 2017 an hour.

And then we're receiving prices for the crop that, you know, back in the seventies, seventies and these kind of prices.

Farming associations are looking for more soybean markets at home.

That means expanding biofuel consumption, something that's in progress.

But every other country that bought beans in 2022 only made up 61% of China's demand.

So China a large player.

We're trying to piece a bunch of exports from different countries.

I don't think we ever get to the demand we saw from China, or at least not this year.

It would have to be the long term gain.

We'd have to see demand from those countries increase over time.

The future of agriculture weighs on the farmers of today and tomorrow.

You know, people want to be a doctor and I want to be a farmer and they're like, Oh, that's easy.

It's a lot harder than it looks.

I that's exactly what I want to do.

That's the only thing I want to do.

Sebastian Gilio is a high school senior debating, taking up a trade, going to college or farming.

You have to put food on the table and you don't really get paid much for it.

And most of the time you're losing money.

So how do you how do you figure out how to do that?

I guess that's the hard part.

Farmers in Trump went through a trade war before in his first term as president.

The government bailed out farmers then, and Trump has suggested doing that again.

While we don't want government payments, we need some help.

At this point.

U.S.

Secretary of Commerce Scott Bassett told farmers to expect an announcement Tuesday.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Jean Lefler.

Thank you, Jason, for that report.

Last year, Kentucky farmers sold more than $1 billion worth of soybeans just below the revenue made from corn.