The humble soya bean has become an unlikely political weapon in the US trade war with China.

In rural Illinois, American farmers have the bittersweet reality of bringing in great harvest but losing their main buyer.

Last year, China bought billions of dollars worth of American farmed soy.

This year, in retaliation for Donald Trump’s tariffs , they haven’t bought a single bean.

“It’s a pretty big issue,’ says Luke Holst, who runs a family farm in Augusta with his father and brother.

“I don’t think they’ve bought anything yet. And I don’t think they plan to.”

Competing to be America’s number one crop

Soya bean farming has grown so fast in recent decades it now competes with corn as America’s number one crop.

It has also become America’s number one agricultural export, more valua

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