Jeremy Cannon is a fourth-generation row-crop farmer in Clarendon County, where he and his family grow soybeans that get processed for meal in South Carolina and sold overseas.
Cannon loves what he does, but lately he’s felt existential pressure as the trade war has escalated between the U.S. and China, which in the past two years has bought more than half of American soybeans. Its refusal this year to buy any soybeans from the U.S. is costing farmers like him anywhere from $40,000 to $60,000 compared to last year.
For Cannon, that $1 per acre is the difference between being able to keep the lights on or not.
“It is difficult,” he said. “If you didn’t love farming … there's no way you'd wake up tomorrow and choose to do it.”
On Oct. 30, negotiations in South Korea with President Xi Jinping offered South Carolina farmers a glimmer of hope. Trump said Xi had authorized China to begin purchasing “massive amounts” of soybeans, sorghum and other farm products in addition to reductions in tariffs and a delay in Chinese restrictions on rare earth mineral exports.
“Our Farmers will be very happy!” Trump later wrote in a Truth Social post.
But whether China follows through remains to be seen. In 2020, the president signed a trade deal that committed China to purchase $200 billion of additional U.S. exports before Dec. 31, 2021, after a costly tariff war. China ultimately bought only 58 percent of the exports it had agreed to — and none of the additional requirements, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
A new deal couldn’t come soon enough for Palmetto State farmers.
Soybeans are the state’s largest crop by acreage, primarily grown in the Pee Dee region. Top-producing counties include Horry, Florence, Williamsburg, Clarendon and Dillon. South Carolina harvested about 380,000 acres last year, producing over 12 million bushels that are shipped through Charleston's port and used locally for livestock feed.
But uncertainty remains about the sustainability of the industry as it’s become harder to earn a living growing soybeans.
In addition to lower market prices and rising costs for fertilizer and supplies, the state’s one processing plant in Kershaw closed in April because of cost-cutting measures, increasing shipping costs to Fayetteville, N.C., and lack of competition among buyers, Cannon said.
By his math, farmers could lose 20 to 30 cents on the product’s value. And while the president promised to reimburse farmers for trade losses — even floating the idea of reimbursing them from tariff revenue — that money had yet to materialize when Cannon spoke with The Post and Courier this week.
The Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture previously authorized up to $12 billion in financial assistance for farmers in 2018 affected by the trade war, where the U.S. suffered billions in losses.
U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who represents the soybean-rich Pee Dee region, said he spoke personally with the president and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins this week about the challenges farmers are facing.
“The last administration failed to hold China accountable for deals that they previously made with the United States,” Fry said in an Oct. 30 statement to The Post and Courier. “President Trump’s new deal is a game changer for South Carolina farmers, particularly those who grow soybeans. This deal opens critical export opportunities, strengthens demands for American-grown farm products, and reinforces our commitment to fair trade that benefits South Carolina producers and rural areas.”
American soybean farmers have been following negotiations closely this time around for signs of renewed market access and stability, the American Soybean Association said in a statement. ASA advocates for U.S. soy farmers on policy and trade.
Caleb Ragland, ASA president and a soybean farmer from Magnolia, Ky., told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing Oct. 28 that farmers across the country are facing a worsening financial outlook driven by high production costs and shrinking operating margins.
“Commodity prices have fallen by an average of 50 percent since 2022, at the same time farm production costs continue to skyrocket,” Ragland said. “Soybean farmers are expected to net a $109 per acre market loss on their crop this year.”
He warned that input inflation — particularly for seed, fertilizer, pesticides, fuel and equipment — has become one of the greatest threats to farm viability.
That’s a problem, Cannon said, because the alternative is buying food overseas that is less regulated at higher prices.
Cannon voted for Trump in 2024. When asked if he believed Trump is delivering on campaign promises he made to farmers, he gathered his thoughts.
“I think we have to see the end to find out,” he said.