A $12 billion aid package was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week to provide short-term assistance to farmers struggling under the economic stress of the country’s trade war with China.

But soybean farmers are saying they want trade instead of aid. Soybean prices have dropped $2 a bushel since March, which has altered what was a slight profit in soybean production to a heavy loss according to Washington farmer and Iowa Soybean Association Communications Squad member Rob Stout. The announcement of the aid package causes Stout to believe this trade war is not going to end anytime soon, “Well I’m kind of disappointed just because it means that they think it’s going to last a lot longer, because if they had good ideas they could hammer this out in the next month or two they wouldn’t need to offer any aid package so that is kind of a downer in my mind. And most of us farmers, most farmers I know would rather get their profit and income from the marketplace rather than an aid package from the government. We had those days 30 years ago and we didn’t like those so we’d rather have good markets. So we’d rather have those markets that we lost and get some new ones.”

ISA President Bill Shipley says while the aid package is a relief it is not the solution, and the ISA strongly encourages the White House to immediately develop and embark on a long-term plan that replaces reduced exports and improves the competitiveness of U.S. soybeans. According to the American Soybean Association in 2017 China imported 31% of U.S. production, equal to 60% of total U.S. exports and nearly one in every three rows of harvested beans.