With tariffs, trade wars and high production costs, Mississippi’s farmers have had a volatile year. 

Wednesday’s state Senate Agriculture Committee hearing focused almost exclusively on soybeans and cattle, two of the state’s top agricultural products. 

Soybeans are the state’s number-one crop, benefitting from easy access to the Mississippi River and New Orleans port. China is the world’s largest soybean importer and historically buys about half of all U.S. soybeans. However, since 2016 and the Trump administration’s first trade war, China has strategically shifted to buying more Brazilian soybeans. 

“It’s a real dilemma for us  in Mississippi and the Delta trying to decide where we go from here with our soybean crop,” said Duane Dunlap, president of DNS Commodities, to the committee. 

China did not buy any soybeans from the U.S. this year until Wednesday. On Thursday, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump posted on social media that China would begin buying “massive amounts” of U.S. soybeans.

But Dunlap thinks there’s also a market opportunity within Mississippi for soybeans.

Mississippi’s chickens, hogs and catfish all eat soybean meal but there are currently no soybean processing facilities in the state. So soybean meal is imported from other states. Dunlap pointed out that Mississippi is the largest soybean-producing state without a processor. He suggested that there’s an opportunity here to build a plant that could supply Mississippi farmers.

Beef prices are at record highs, driven by high demand and historically small herds. Trump has said that the U.S. could buy more beef from Argentina to bring prices down. This has led to push back and concern from U.S. cattle farmers. 

 ”Producers are just now starting to feel like they’re in recovery,” said Ethan Lane, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. 

Have you been impacted by the tariffs? Email me at  marketplace@mississippitoday.org

Gov. Reeves seeks to strengthen Coast’s defense industry

Last week, Gov. Tate Reeves announced the formation of Mission 3, a nonprofit with a goal of strengthening the defense industry along the Gulf Coast. 

“Mission 3 is our region’s answer to a changing defense economy,” said Jamie Miller, President and CEO of the Gulf Coast Business Council.

In Fiscal Year 2023, federal defense spending made up 6% of Mississippi’s GDP. In 2021, the state established the Governor’s Office of Military Affairs to coordinate groups across the state. 

Other news: Madison development, economic officer for Jackson, Cadence Bank sold

• The Madison Board of Aldermen approved plans for a $60 million mixed-use development. Developers announced the project in April of this year and expect it to be completed by Fall 2026. The development will include dining, retail and office space, as well as a 120,000-square-foot entertainment center
• In his first State of the City address, Jackson Mayor John Horn announced that Mississippi’s economic development agency would assign a dedicated project officer to the city. This follows the formation in the Legislature of a Senate committee to study how to boost the capital city’s economy.
• The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality approved a higher air emissions permit for U.K.-based wood pellet company Drax. The Amite County plant has been fined by MDEQ for multiple violations. Mississippi gave Drax $2.8 million in grants to attract the company to the state. 
• Tupelo- and Texas-based Cadence Bank will be bought by an Ohio company, Huntington Bancshares, for $7.4 billion. The purchase will make Huntington the state’s top bank by deposits. Cadence was founded in Verona in 1876.