By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

RENSSELAER, Ind. — President Donald Trump last month announced he would impose tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. China quickly retaliated, announcing it would target more than 100 American products, including pork, stainless steel pipe and aluminum scrap.

A few days later China added another 100 products to the tariff list, including soybeans, beef and cars. All this escalating news is leaving producers of pork, soybeans, corn and wheat quite worried.

“We’ll be caught in the middle of this if this happens,” said David Rodibaugh, who raises pigs, soybeans, corn and some wheat with his three brothers on his 2,000-acre farm in Rensselaer. “How badly we’ll be hurt is hard to quantify, but a trade war does have the potential to affect us.”

He said a tariff on pork, a perishable product, would be felt quickly, but a tariff on soybeans could hit especially hard.

“More than one-third of U.S. soybeans go to China, and right now the world inventory of soybeans is high,” Rodibaugh explained. “We’re in a vulnerable time as far as pricing, already.”

Rodibaugh produces about 6,000 pigs a year for harvesting, and while his pork doesn’t go to China, he said he would still feel the effect of a tariff. “The prices are interconnected.”

Melanie Fitzpatrick, spokeswoman for the Indiana Soybean Alliance, said farmers have already seen some volatility in prices as a result of China’s announcement of a possible tariff looming in six months.

Immediately after China announced it would impose tariffs on soybeans and other products, the commodity’s price dropped by 4 percent to $9.97 a bushel. According to the USDA, China is the biggest importer of American soybeans. In 2017, about $12.3 billion worth were exported to China from the United States.

“There are about 24,000 soybean farmers in Indiana,” Fitzpatrick said, “and they produced almost 302 million bushels of soybeans in 2014. (With the tariffs) Indiana’s economy in general could be impacted. Real communities could be affected, including those who sell farm machinery, seed dealers and those with livestock.”

Most soybeans are processed for their oil and protein for the animal feed industry. Soy products are also found in popular brands of home and commercial carpets. Soybean byproducts are also used in certain cleaners, solvents, paints, biodiesel fuel, certain wood adhesives, footwear, crayons, industrial lubricants, hydraulic fluids and more.

“In the end, we really need each other,” Rodibaugh said. “We’re producing food for China. I cannot point to one example where anyone wins a trade war.”

The Ohio Soybean Assoc. (OSA) has denounced the White House’s decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion in Chinese products, which China has said it will answer with a retaliatory 25 percent on imported U.S. soybeans. China purchases 61 percent of U.S. soybean exports and more than 30 percent of overall U.S. soybean production.

“We should address our trade challenges by increasing our competiveness, not creating new barriers,” said Allen Armstrong, OSA president and Clark County soybean farmer. “Exports have been one of the few bright spots for farmers in recent years and we can’t afford another hit to the bottom line.”

A study by The Ohio State University found the proposed tariffs could decrease a farm’s net worth by an estimated 6 percent and annual net income by 59 percent over a six-year period. A separate study conducted by Purdue University shows that total U.S. soybean production could decline by 15 percent.

“The collateral damage in this trade war will include not only Ohio grain farmers, but all Ohioans,” said Scott Metzger, OSA first vice president and a Ross County farmer. “Farm incomes are at multiyear lows, and this action will harm our state’s largest industry by undermining our top agricultural export.”

Corn growers fear the tariffs as well.

“Our corn farmers have worked for decades to support fair and open trade practices,” said Wesley Spurlock, chair of the National Corn Growers Assoc. “We do have a window of opportunity to reach a mutually beneficial trade position with China until the time that tariffs are fully implemented.

“We need to be measured, professionally, and businesslike in our approach to keeping the trade doors open with China, and we need the President to understand the implications that these trade actions have for America’s farm families.”

At the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers (NAWG) board of directors meeting this past week, a new resolution was passed urging the White House to avoid imposing trade barriers on commonly traded products.

“At such an economically hard time for wheat growers, we do not want to see trade barriers brought against us from some of our top customers who are impacted by this decision,” said NAWG’s newly instated president, Jimmy Musick.

“Wheat farmers battling a market in which China holds nearly 50 percent of world ending wheat stocks can sympathize with steel and aluminum workers on the economic effects of Chinese policies leading to global oversupply. However, we hope that our legitimate concerns with this action are heard and taken into consideration in this process.”