Proposed Chinese tariffs already costing NC farmers

China is the top market for North Carolina agricultural exports, accounting for 16 percent of the total.

Meanwhile, pork is North Carolina's top agricultural export by value, while tobacco is second and soybeans fifth. Together, the three products made up nearly 50 percent of the value of the state's agricultural exports in 2016.

North Carolina exported more than $500 million in tobacco in 2016, with China as its top – and only growing – market, according to state figures. China is also by far the largest market for North Carolina soybeans.

Soybean futures dropped 40 cents a bushel overnight, which Peter Daniel of the North Carolina Farm Bureau said will cost farmers billions of dollars.

"When I woke up, it was like, here we go. United States agriculture is 33 items out of the 106-item list," Daniel said.

Cotton, wheat, corn and beef, which also are major North Carolina exports, are also on China's latest list of proposed tariffs.

"There is no safety net for an ag trade war, and so farmers will feel the brunt of the impact of a trade war that involves agricultural products. There's just no way around it," Daniel said.

Competition to sell in China is already stiff, even without a tariff, he said.

"There are other economies and other countries that can fill those needs at a less expensive cost, so it puts us at a huge disadvantage in the global market," he said.

Brazil, for example, has been trying to eat into North Carolina's share of China's tobacco imports.

"Brazil is a huge producer of flue cured [tobacco]. They would gladly step into the breach with their pricing and steal our market," Daniel said.

Farm Bureau officials spent much of Wednesday on the phone with people in Washington, D.C., lobbying to head off a trade war, but Daniel said the effect of that prospect only adds to the normal worries farmers have about their crops.

"This is a negotiation period that’s going on, but even in the negotiation period, it has an impact on prices," he said. "Just hold on. There are a lot of people with [farmers'] interests at heart working on their behalf."