Midwest soybean farmers have faced persistent financial headwinds in recent years, which were compounded by tariffs and the war in the Middle East, reporting from Lee Enterprises and The Associated Press found.
Farmers’ costs, such as equipment, have crept up over time while soybean prices have stayed low. Tariffs levied by the Trump administration last year and the monthslong trade war with China only made things worse, soybean producers say. Then the Iran war bottled up shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, restricting and sending fuel and soaring. A ceasefire deal announced April 7 raised hope that bottlenecks in the strait would abate, but the future of the agreement was uncertain and experts say it will take time for global supply chains to recover.
The AP and Lee Enterprises interviewed experts and soybean farmers across multiple Midwest states.
Here are key takeaways from :
Rising costs, low soybean prices have hurt farmers’ margins
Soybeans, which are used for livestock feed, food and biofuels, are among the top U.S. agricultural exports. But soybean prices have been persistently low in recent years. The global market has been awash in soybeans, driven in part by Brazil, which surpassed the U.S. as the years ago.
鈥淚f we look at global soybean production over the past several years, it continues to set record, after record, after record,鈥� said Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been just large supplies globally, and that has led to depressed prices.鈥�
Meanwhile, Midwest soybean farmers鈥� costs have risen. Overall farm production expenses, including seed and pesticide, have increased over time, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Operating costs for soybean production have stayed elevated since 2020 and are projected to increase again in 2026, according to the agency.
The cost of land also is a major issue for farmers, experts say. Midwest crop land values have increased. And most regional farmers rent some of their land, according to Joana Colussi, research assistant professor in the department of agricultural economics at Purdue University.
The U.S.-China trade war in 2025 has lasting impacts
levied by President Donald Trump in April 2025 exacerbated a trade war with China, the China responded with retaliatory tariffs and effectively boycotted U.S. soybeans, for Midwest farmers and driving the price of soybeans even lower. The U.S. and China eventually . Beijing committed to buying 12 million metric tons of soybeans by January and at least 25 million metric tons annually for the next three years. China has since and the Trump administration also rolled out a in December to boost farmers affected by the trade war.
But the damage is already done, experts and farmers say. While China鈥檚 renewed purchases and the federal payments are helping, it鈥檚 not enough to recover farmers鈥� losses. Even after federal assistance, farmers still lost almost $75 per harvested acre of soybeans in the 2025 crop, according to the American Soybean Association. And the trade war further pushed China toward competing soybean exporters, 鈥� accelerating a trend of declining U.S. soybean exports to China.
Joseph Glauber, former chief economist at the Department of Agriculture between 2008 and 2014, said global competitors to U.S. soybean farmers gained from the trade war. The U.S. is not as dominant in the global soybean export market as it used to be, Glauber added.
The Iran war further drove up costs for farmers
After the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, a severe slowdown in shipping traffic through the sent the price of oil soaring. The shipping disruption also largely stopped the export of nitrogen fertilizers manufactured in the Persian Gulf and limited access to key fertilizer ingredients. The price of urea, the most widely traded nitrogen fertilizer, skyrocketed.
Soybeans don鈥檛 require nitrogen fertilizer, but it鈥檚 vital for corn and most soybean farmers also grow corn. About half the global supply of urea comes from the Middle East, and Qatar and Saudi Arabia are two of the top sources of U.S. fertilizer imports, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
The U.S. and Iran last week that included reopening the strait of Hormuz, but traffic remained slowed amid disagreements over Israeli attacks in Lebanon, and the price of urea remains elevated.
Many Midwest farmers bought their fertilizer well in advance of the spring planting season. But some farmers who didn鈥檛 buy early face elevated prices.
The war also caused , causing further headaches for farmers. following the ceasefire announcement, but the war and the closure of the strait will have lasting impacts on farmers, said Seth Goldstein, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, an investment research company. Facilities in the Middle East that are critical for exporting chemicals, oil and other commodities were damaged or destroyed during the war and it will take time for supply chains to recover, he said.
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