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Farmer says trade tensions add uncertainty to a troubled farm economy

A western Kentucky farmer says escalating tensions between the U.S. and China will change the trading relationship between the two countries moving forward.

Davie Stephens grows corn and soybeans and is a contract grower for Pilgrim’s Pride. “There’s a lot of back and forth going on now,” he says.  “We have a farm economy that’s really in an economic downturn over the last several years and I think what on our farmers’ minds right now is the uncertainty.”

He tells Brownfield that China remains the largest purchaser of U.S. soybeans. “Do you get a good working relationship with someone, and then when you know one side kind of alters a little bit, it makes the other side a little bit maybe concerned,” he says.  “Then how does that move forward? So, we’re seeing that hopefully with this administration, we will get a better deal than we had in 2018.”

Stephens says the tariffs impact more than just soybeans. “The poultry industry, whether it be the exports of chicken feet going into that country or whatever aspect of poultry they want,” he says. 

In 2024, 71 percent of U.S. poultry exported to China was frozen chicken paws (feet).

Stephens says he remains optimistic that the trade rift will be resolved quickly, giving farmers more certainty heading into the 2025 cropping year.

AUDIO: Davie Stephens, Kentucky farmer