Much attention has been focused of late on the implications for Latin America of the US-China trade war, including in the agricultural sector, where Brazil has seemingly benefitted from growing demand for its abundant soy. Recent tariffs have pushed China to intensify trading with Latin America, contributing to the expectation that Brazil will become the leading soybean exporter for 2019-20, a distinction previously held by the US.

While the rest of the country has enjoyed an economic resurgence in recent years, the farm economy has slipped into a recession as global commodity prices precipitously fall.

You won’t find any tourists in the muddy, mosquito-ridden town of Barcarena in Brazil’s state of Pará, but you can’t miss the almost constant parade of trucks pulling in and out of port facilities under the scorching sun or torrential rainfall on the country’s northern coast.

Farmers, ranchers, and the whole ag industry have a lot to worry about.