The Trump administration's tariff policy is pushing a large number of American farmers to the brink.

The U.S. is one of the top producers of soybean, and a bountiful corn and other crop grower, much of which is intended for the Chinese market. But with the increased U.S. tariffs pushing up prices, China had begun to explore other markets.

According to statistics from the overseas programs of the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2024, the U.S. export soybeans to China worth 12.8 billion USD. However, this year, farmers have not received any orders from the Chinese market.

ABC recently aired an interview with Caleb Ragland, president of the American Soybean Association. Ragland said, "China is our biggest export customer. Currently, China has zero soybeans on the books for this crop that is being harvested now, and that is alarming for our industry. There are 50,000 soybean-producing farmers across the United States, and the China market is vital for our livelihood."

Ragland, a farmer himself, added, "Many farmers, such as myself, have no other income other than farming. And suddenly, when your biggest customer just disappears, that's a dire circumstance. My message to President (Donald) Trump is: We need this market, and we need actions now, not just words."

Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana, the core soybean-growing areas, have been severely affected. Their output accounts for about half of the total national output.

The agriculture industry in the U.S. is calling on the government to end the trade war with China at the earliest.

According to CNN, farmers are issuing increasingly urgent warnings about the grim consequences if they don't get help to sell this year's bumper crop that many have begun harvesting. They say the increasingly dire circumstances stem from a confluence of factors, including the trade war, inflation and high interest rates.

According to Yahoo Finance, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig are urging for a deal with China and bringing the world's biggest soybean buyer back into the market for U.S. soybeans.

According to the BBC, U.S. agricultural groups have warned that American farmers are facing widespread difficulty this year, mostly due to the economic tensions with China. The number of small farming businesses that filed for bankruptcy has reached a five-year high, according to data compiled by Bloomberg in July.

Jon Tester, a former Democrat Senator of Montana and a third-generation farmer, told a U.S. news station earlier in September: "With all these tariffs the president's put on, it's interrupted our supply chain… it's increased the cost of new equipment… and because of the trade and tariffs, a lot of customers have said to heck with the United States…The people who are new to agriculture, those young farmers who haven't saved money for times like this, they're going to be in trouble and a lot of those folks are going to go broke. And if this continues, a lot of folks like me are going to go broke too."

In a letter to the White House, Ragland warned of a tipping point: "U.S. soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice."