HAWESVILLE, Ky. — David Winchell wrapped up his soybean harvest last weekend, but the third-generation Kentucky farmer said the relief he felt was fleeting.
With bins emptied and debts piling up, Winchell's 1,400 acres barely broke even this year, squeezed by low prices and soaring costs he can't control.
"It's very crippling ... we're just trying to keep from losing money," Winchell said.
A board member of the Kentucky Soybean Association, Winchell has farmed grains for decades. But this season's drought-shortened crop — which should have driven prices higher — instead highlighted the fallout from renewed U.S. tariffs on China.
In a follow-up to a September interview where he first warned of the tariffs' toll, Winchell said little has improved. China, which bought nearly half of all U.S. soybeans last year, halted purchases in May after retaliatory duties hit 34%, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Exports to China plunged to 218 million bushels through Aug. 2025, down from 985 million the prior year.
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The sting deepened last month, when the U.S. extended a $20 billion currency swap to Argentina, per Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement, stabilizing its peso and allowing Buenos Aires to slash soybean export taxes.
“Does that feel like a slap on the face to us? Yeah,” Winchell said. “Sending relief to them is not the answer for us. That's only adding to our issues.”
Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), whose district includes Louisville’s urban core and rural fringes, said the trade war is “screwing Kentucky farmers, whether it’s the farmers who sell corn to the bourbon industry ... or it’s the chaotic trade policies with China, where we send a lot of our soybeans right now, farmers are being hurt.”
McGarvey slammed the Argentina deal as a “double betrayal,” with U.S. taxpayers funding a rival while Kentucky languishes.
Read the rest at Spectrum News.
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