Local Farmer Welcomes New Trade Agreement with China

Jan 17, 2020

By Nathan Reineck

A Portage County farmer welcomes the signing of a trade agreement with China Wednesday. The truce asks China to respect intellectual property laws in exchange for the U.S. reducing some tariffs.

The first phase of the trade agreement is the starting point of recovery for many Ohio corn and soybean farmers who were impacted most by the trade war.

Farmer Chuck Sayre from Mantua said China has bought less corn and soybean exports for the last several years. He said the tariffs added to the existing problems with American agricultural exports.

He said the relief programs put into place weren’t able to help those who needed it the most.

“Your small family farm that doesn’t do the big corporate things to get every dollar out of the government. It really hurt those farmers.”

Sayre said small farming operations don’t have the resources they need to apply for government aid. He said they’ve dealt with the damage of the trade war for too long.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.