Scott Deerex is a six-generation family farmer in Iowa.
One of his primary crops is soybeans.
And for most of his life, it hasn't been hard to sell them.
One really fond memory I have growing up is riding with my father early in the morning in a semi.
He remembers being a kid and loading soybeans onto a semi truck with his dad Driving down to the Mississippi River where they put them onto a barge We'd leave Four o'clock in the morning before the Sun came up.
We drive into town Park we get in line before they were even open We'd stand on the Mississippi River and we'd see the tugboats out there You'd hear the horns and we'd see the barges that were getting ready to fill And it wouldn't be just one barge.
It'd be multiple barges tied together.
They'd go down the Mississippi, out to the Gulf of Mexico,
and then they'd be exported all around the world.
Most of them were bound for one place, China.
China is the world's biggest soy importer by a huge margin.
Nearly a quarter of the soybeans grown in America end up there.
But this year, American soybean farmers have a big problem.
China isn't buying U.S. soybeans, as in none at all.
How important are soybeans to your family and your family history's livelihood?
They're extremely important.
It is going to be a challenge that the farm's not going to produce any profit for my family this year.
China is using soybeans as a powerful point of leverage in the trade war with the U.S.
Now, as harvest season begins, the clock is ticking.
And farmers like Scott hope a solution will come soon.