(Magnolia, Kentucky) — Trust but verify. That’s part of the message from the President of the American Soybean Association amid news that China is set to resume more purchases of U.S. soybeans in the weeks and months ahead.
“Well, it’s exciting to hear positive news about soybean sales and getting things back going with China,” according to ASA President Caleb Ragland. “There are obviously a lot of details, which we haven’t heard yet, and we don’t know. So we want to trust but verify when it comes to all of this.”
This week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared in an interview with Fox Business, that China has agreed to “massive amounts of agricultural purchases” in the reported U.S./China agreement, including 12 million metric tons of soybeans between now and January and a minimum of 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for the next three years.
“Hearing basically, what would equate to about 12 million metric tons, which would be about half of a U.S. soybean marketing year amount in recent years, to finish up here with the 25-26 marketing year, that’s positive,” according to Ragland. “It’s a whole lot better than what we’ve had in recent months. So that’s exciting. And then the 25 million metric tons per year through 2028 for the full years, that gets us back to where we’ve been in recent years. So that’s kind of getting us back to the level we’ve been at.”
Ragland, in an interview on Agriculture of America, did continue to stress that these sales need to be verified and enforced. “We want to verify all the details. And also, we want to temper our excitement by reminding everyone, these are purchase commitments, and these are not sales that have taken place yet,” according to Ragland. “So we still have to follow through and make sure that we get across the finish line. But it seems like both parties are, they sat down, they worked through some issues. And it seems like that we’ve came out the other side with some positive news.”
Earlier this week, the ASA President also testified on Capitol Hill in regards to input and fertilizer prices impacting farmers across the country.
“We as farmers want an opportunity to be able to make a living, to make a profit. And unfortunately, with the input prices at record highs and continuing to spike up, that opportunity is very limited,” says Ragland. “While our commodity prices are down, they are not at historical lows. If we had reasonable input prices, we would still have potential to make some money, make a living. But unfortunately, just the high cost structure across the board is really hampering that opportunity.”
Ragland added that “We’re not picking on any certain company or any certain industry, but on the other side, we just want to make sure there’s fair competition and opportunity for all parties involved on both the agribusiness side and for the farmers that do business with them. And we’re here to support competition and opportunity.”
Hear the full conversation with Caleb Ragland on the Friday, October 31st, 2025 episode of Agriculture of America in the podcast linked below. The interview is at the beginning of the program:
