AS the harvest season is underway in America’s agricultural heartland, soybean farmers found themselves in a “desperate situation” amid rising costs, extreme weather and tariff concerns.
“We’re in a significant and desperate situation where none of the crops that farmers grow right now return a profit. They don’t even break even,” Stefan Maupin, executive director of Tennessee Soybean Promotion Council, told the Tennessee Lookout news website.
Soybean farmers planted around 1.75 million acres (708,200 hectares) of soybeans in 2025. In its recent report, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture estimated losses of nearly US$110 million for Tennessee soybeans this year.
Soybean farmers had a difficult growing season as severe weather patterns — flooding in the spring and drought in the summer — reduced yields drastically.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicted an average soybean yield of 53.5 bushels per acre this year. However, Maupin said this estimate was likely too high for Tennessee, with some local farmers predicting yields closer to 30 bushels an acre due to the bad weather.
“Compounding the crisis are rising costs for fertilizer, land and equipment, all while soybean prices sink,” said Newser, a news website.
According to the report of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, based on an average yield of 50 bushels per acre, soybean farmers are projected to lose about $84 per acre as of 12 August. If a farmer has 3,000 acres, that is a roughly quarter-million dollar loss.
Xinhua
#GlobalNewLightOfMyanmar