A key part of President Trump’s trade deal with China this past week: reopen the market for American soybeans. If you think soybean sales don’t mean a lot to you, they actually impact national food prices, export revenues, and taxpayer-funded agricultural subsidies, affecting economic stability and consumer costs for all of us. A lot of soybean farmers have spent this past growing season working on hope and a little faith in President Trump. Mikenzie Frost reports from Indiana.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

The sight of a dust cloud in a field on a bright, sunny day usually means one thing. It’s harvest season.

This 22-hundred-acre plot near Rensselaer, Indiana is where Kendell Culp and his family have been working the land for more than 50 years.

Mikenzie Frost: You said soybean, corn, and wheat. What’s it going to look like for you? You’re in the middle of harvesting right now. How are the prices going to be?

Kendell Culp: So, the prices are not good for the grains. We’re very diversified. As a family operation. We try to stay diversified. So if one commodity is struggling, hopefully another one brings that up from a financial standpoint. But grain prices, of course, are subpar. There’s a lot of issues I think that are addressing that or that are causing that low prices to be so it’s definitely a below break-even year. As far as corn and soybeans.

China was the largest export market for American soy – typically buying some 60% of US soybean exports.

But until a deal with China just announced, that had ground to a halt. China was boycotting US soybeans in retaliation for president trump’s tariffs.

China imported zero US soybeans in September.

Mikenzie: Are the tariffs part of that conversation given the fact that China’s no longer part of the conversation when it comes to buying soybeans in the United States?

Kendell Culp: Obviously, we need China to be part of our market. What we found is we really had too much reliance on one country for our soybean exports, and that was China. About a third of the soybeans that are raised in this country, pre tariffs went to China. I mean, that’s an amazing number to think. A third over half of what we export went to China.

Culp is also a Republican state representative and the vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau. He says the summer’s trade war with China was like deja vu, all over again.

Kendell Culp: Now, I would say we had this during the first Trump administration as well. The president had our backs.

In Trump’s first term, China’s farm purchases dropped from $19.5 billion to $9 billion. The Department of Agriculture responded with direct payments for qualified American farmers. Spending $11.5 billion in 2017, and more than $32 billion by 2020.

Mikenzie: Do you hear from farmers that they blame the Trump administration? Are they upset with the policies that they’re seeing from Washington?

Kendell Culp: Surprisingly, no. About 70% of rural Indiana voted for President Trump for reelection. They’re sympathetic with the fact that China is kind of the bully in the world, and we’re not going to stand for that. And most countries can’t stand up to China. And so I think farmers in general are going to say, we want to do our part. We want to help as well. If we’re going to have some short-term pain for long-term gain, we’re willing to do that, but we also have to stay in business. And I think the White House understands that.

That sentiment is felt across county lines. Where Allen Buchanan has been farming this land near Fowler, Indiana, since 1997.

Allen Buchanan: I supported this administration, and I feel like it will sort itself out.

The deal with China is even more welcome because although the president promised a Fall bailout of up to $10b that relief has been held up by the government shutdown.

Mikenzie: Is it up to the federal government to help farmers who are impacted by the tariff policies by utilizing that money?

Allen Buchanan: I don’t think it’s necessarily their responsibility, but I think it’s very wise to do so.

Allen Buchanan: Well, it comes back to food supply and really national security. It’s always been that way is whenever farmers are in a tough spot, you tend to look to the government for answers.

Mikenzie: How long can the short-term pain last?

Kendell Culp: Well, we had hoped that we would see some kind of agreement with China before harvest. That hasn’t happened.

And then it did.

President Trump: It was an outstanding group of decisions. We’re in agreement on so many elements, large amounts, tremendous amounts of the soybeans and other farm products are going to be purchased immediately.

China has agreed to purchase 25 million metric tons of US soybeans annually as part of the new agreement, with almost half of that coming between now and January. That will open the China market up again. But Indiana farmers are planning forward, they’ve learned to diversify crops, now they’re going to diversify markets.

Allen Buchanan: We’re trying to really focus on the markets that are open for us.

Indiana recently signed a letter of intent with Taiwan to purchase a huge sum of soybeans in the next four years, three and a half to four billion dollars’ worth of soybeans, which is going to be huge for Indiana farmers.

Farmers have always survived on hard work, along with hope and more than a few prayers. Geopolitics have become part of the change while the old challenges remain the same.

Allen Buchanan: There’s a lot of places around the state and even the Midwest where they weren’t as fortunate with summer rains and maybe spring rains where they weren’t able to plant as timely as we were. Production costs have risen dramatically and with crop prices kind of in the tank, there’s a lot of concern going into 2026.

Sharyl: You went to Indiana before President Trump announced the new deal with China, do you know what these farmers are thinking about this deal:

Mikenzie: So we contacted them after the news of this deal on Thursday and Allen Buchanan called this a game-changer for profitability. Kendall Culp said that it is welcome news on top of a year that had a great harvest. And we’re seeing the market put dollars behind this deal and the news of it. Soybeans hit their highest price in over a year.

Watch video here.