Suburban soybean farmers looking for solution to China’s boycott amid tariff war

A Chinese boycott of American soybeans in retaliation for U.S. tariffs is being felt even in the suburbs.

Farmers who normally consider the crop in high demand, as well as profitable both nationally and across the globe, have a significant presence in the collar counties outside Chicago, including on more than 30,000 acres of Lake County.

“We still have a large agricultural footprint here in Lake County,” said Greg Koeppen, executive director of the Lake County Farm Bureau.

Andy Yarc of Libertyville is a firefighter and fourth-generation farmer who along with his family cultivates 2,200 acres in several areas of Lake County.

He was concerned about the Chinese boycott when he planted this year and is even more troubled that nothing’s changed at harvest.

Yarc feels the effect of tariffs at both ends of his operation, as they have also raised the cost of parts for equipment.

“I don’t want what I’m doing in this field to be part of a game of chess,” he said.

According to the Illinois Soybean Association, the state’s yield is exported to 82 countries outside the U.S. But China is by far the largest foreign buyer.

“That’s a big market to make up for,” Yarc said.

In a Wednesday post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump addressed the plight of farmers.

“The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for ‘negotiating’ reasons only, not buying,” he wrote. “We’ve made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers. I WILL NEVER LET OUR FARMERS DOWN!”

Trump added that soybeans will be a major topic at a scheduled meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in about four weeks.

Koeppen said that while a four-week wait isn’t necessarily a hardship, what farmers want is a stable market for their products rather than a government subsidy or handout.

“They want to earn it,” he added. “They want to work for it. We need some stability. There needs to be some continuity there.”

Yarc has the ability to store beans on his property for up to nine months, but not every farmer does. There are no grain elevators in Lake County for anyone not already prepared to store.

The fortunes of farmers affect others — including seed and equipment suppliers, Koeppen said. Even as they’re engaged in this year’s harvest, farmers are deciding what to grow next year.

Yarc is a strong believer in the benefits of crop rotation. But he’s wary of shifting more into corn in response to the current situation.

China has been turning to South American countries such as Argentina as an alternate source of soybeans. But Koeppen is among those who don’t believe U.S. suppliers have been permanently damaged by this year’s politics.

Between the fertile environment of Illinois and its complementary transportation system that delivers a high-quality product cost-effectively, Koeppen said the state’s farmers would again be hard to beat in a free market.

“This has been a great growing season here in Lake County, and I think most of Northern Illinois would say the same,” he added.

Soybeans are used for such products as animal feed, biodiesel, soy crayons and ink, vegetable oil, soy sauce, soy flour and milk alternatives.

According to the Illinois Soybean Association, the state is the largest producer in the nation as of 2021, with an average annual yield of approximately 672.6 million bushels.

Yarc, however, worries that whatever shortcomings South American countries may face in raising soybeans can be countered by having potentially two growing seasons per year.

As president and CEO of the Bensenville-based shipping company LR International, Paul Jarzombek has become more of an expert on tariffs than on agriculture. But he doesn’t see South American soybean suppliers as anything but a second-best compromise for China, rather than a permanent alternative.

Jarzombek said farmers are probably being disproportionately hurt this year, because agriculture is one of the economic sectors where the U.S. has dominated, along with automotive, aerospace and defense.

In contrast, domestic producers of metals including steel and aluminum have benefited because they can raise their prices above the market norm and still undersell foreign competitors, he added.

Among farmers’ strongest and most vocal advocates in the current struggle are agencies like the Illinois Soybean Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation, Koeppen said.

A strength for U.S. farmers has been their sheer numbers. Though those numbers have been dropping as the average age has gone up, Koeppen said they’re still a resilient lot.

“They always find a way, at the end of the day, to survive,” he said.