The US soybean harvest is underway and in rural Maryland, farmer Travis Hutchison cracks open a pod to show how a field is nearly dry enough for reaping.But a decent yield is not enough to secure his income this year — with China, once the biggest buyer of US soybean exports, halting orders in a trade row triggered by President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs.Soybean prices “are really depressed because of the trade war,” Hutchison told AFP. His family tills 3,400 acres of soybeans, corn and other crops.”I wasn’t against the president trying it, because I think we needed better trade deals,” added the 54-year-old of Trump’s policies.But he expressed disappointment at how things played out: “I was hoping it would get resolved sooner.”Hutchison is among American farmers — a key support base for Trump — reeling from the trade impasse.The world’s second biggest economy in 2024 bought more than half the $24.5 billion in US soybean exports.But exports to China have fallen by over 50 percent in value this year, and Chinese buyers have held off on new soybean orders from the US autumn harvest.With lower demand, soybean prices are down about 40 percent from three years ago.This comes as American soybeans have become pricier for Chinese buyers.As Trump slapped tariffs on Chinese products in his second presidency, Beijing’s counter-duties on US soybeans rose to 20 percent.This makes them “prohibitively more expensive” than exports from South America, where US farmers face growing competition, said the American Soybean Association (ASA).Last month, Argentina suspended its export tax on key crops like soybeans, making them more attractive to Chinese buyers too.Trump vowed to tap tariff revenues to help US farmers but has not provided details, while prospects of a longer-term deal appear more distant than ever.On Friday, Trump promised additional 100-percent tariffs targeting China and threatened to scrap talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Beijing’s rare earth industry export curbs.ASA president Caleb Ragland said the group had hoped top-level talks would restore soybean exports to China.”These latest developments are deeply disappointing at a moment when soybean farmers are facing an ever-growing financial crisis,” he said.- ‘Band-aid’ -Hutchison, whose family has been farming in Cordova for generations, acknowledges that farmers are easy targets in trade spats.But a government bailout is a “band-aid” rather than a long-term solution, he said.”I’m glad that he’s thinking of us,” Hutchison added, referring to Trump.But securing a reliable trading partner is more important: “We’re in the farming game for the long term.”Time is limited, as China’s soybean purchasing window from the United States usually runs from October through January, said farmer David Burrier, based in Union Bridge, Maryland.”This year’s going to be a very, very tough year,” he told AFP. “40 percent of our acres are probably going to be breakeven or under breakeven.”Burrier said it would be a “four-alarm fire” if China stopped soybean purchases for good.ASA chief economist Scott Gerlt warned the situation is especially harsh in Midwestern states like North and South Dakota.There, the soybean industry is built up around exporting to the Pacific Northwest and subsequently to China.They are hard-hit if they run out of storage and cannot ship their harvests out.- Worse than 2018 -Gerlt said farmers have it harder than in 2018, when they were also caught in Washington and Beijing’s tariffs war.From 2018 to 2019, retaliatory tariffs caused over $27 billion in US agriculture export losses. The government provided $23 billion to help farmers hit by trade disputes.But they enter this trade war under greater financial stress, Gerlt said.Crop revenues are lower, yet costs for everything from fertilizers to equipment have ballooned as Trump’s new tariffs bite.”Getting parts to fix your combines and your planters and everything is costing more because of the tariffs,” Hutchison said. “It’s going to affect our bottom line.”US farm bankruptcies this year have surged about 50 percent from 2024, said professor Chad Hart of Iowa State University.Asked if economic conditions have changed his feelings about supporting Trump, Hutchison paused: “It makes me think a little bit more.”

The quinceanera dress shops in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood are usually bustling enterprises, reflecting the buoyant mood of Latino families eyeing a brighter future. Not anymore.Businesses across the Midwestern city’s immigrant-heavy districts are in peril, as a crackdown by US President Donald Trump’s administration ripples through communities and sends terrified immigrants indoors and out of view — regardless of their citizenship status.At the heart of Little Village, nicknamed the Mexico of the Midwest for its vibrant Mexican culture and cuisine, streets were eerily empty Friday night — when the hub is usually thumping with energy. Restaurants are closing early and laying off staff. Construction sites are dark.One of the dozen quinceanera shops in Little Village — where families buy lavish gowns for their daughters’ coming-of-age parties — already went out of business, in September.For Ariella Santoyo, owner of My Quince World, the crackdown’s snowballing effect on a billion-dollar immigrant economy is reminiscent of Covid and how the pandemic devastated the area.”Definitely we have seen a decline this year” since Trump returned to the White House vowing to escalate deportations, Santoyo, 38, told AFP as she embellished the embroidery on a gown.Now with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detaining undocumented migrants and even US citizens in an escalating series of raids in the Democratic-run city, she has experienced “about a 40 percent loss” in business.Mike Muhammad, employed at a Latin-themed supermarket, put a similar estimate on the downturn.”People are not coming” to buy groceries, he said.Many men who work construction in Chicago are staying home too, said one contractor getting a haircut in Little Village.”No one is showing up to work. They’re scared,” said the man, who declined to be identified.Such income loss is putting tremendous strain on immigrant families, many of whom were already living on the margins.Many Mexican-American immigrants told AFP today’s conditions felt doubly dispiriting: Trump’s steep tariffs on Mexican imports, which are raising prices on the goods Chicago’s immigrant community purchases, and now raids that are keeping residents off the job. – Massive immigrant economy -Immigrants are huge contributors to the US economy, spending $299 billion in 2023 alone, according to non-profit advocacy group American Immigration Council.Chicago’s population of 2.7 million is 30 percent Hispanic or Latino, 2025 US Census figures show, and city Mayor Brandon Johnson — who has clashed with Trump over the ICE raids — warned of broader financial woes if the immigrant economy suffers.”President Trump is literally undermining the economic prowess of cities like Chicago,” Johnson said recently.Some Chicagoans are taking security measures into their own hands, establishing neighborhood patrols that sound out warnings when they see or suspect immigration enforcement operations.AFP tagged along with Pilsen Defense Access group as they patrolled the district on Chicago’s Lower West Side.”You do have these agents going through neighborhoods targeting people, and it makes people afraid, right?” said an activist who identified himself as Davis, a US military veteran, as he drove Pilsen’s streets. “To me that’s an act of terrorism.”No ICE personnel were spotted on the 90-minute patrol past schools, community centers and shopping hubs.But Davis said the surge in sweeps has residents scared and exasperated, triggering a trickle-down effect that can swamp a community’s economy.Pilsen was particularly vibrant on Sunday, however, as the Chicago Marathon snaked through the neighborhood where supporters waved Mexican flags and cheered.- ‘Back 50 years’ -Santoyo, the dressmaker, said the latest crisis “does bring the community together, helping each other through these tough times.” She choked up recalling how her immigrant father told her recently: “I feel like we went back 50 years in time.”But despite the ups and downs “we got through it all, so we will also get through this,” she said.Rosa, a 66-year-old born in Mexico, said at a local supermercado that today’s climate feels worse than Covid, because “now we can’t even go out to work or buy our things.”She remains fearful of how the crackdown will impact her community’s economy.”We all come here to work for a better future,” said Rosa, a US citizen who asked that her last name not be used.”If it weren’t for us — the Hispanics, the Mexicans — where would this country be?”

Artificial intelligence now makes it possible to mass-produce podcasts with completely virtual hosts, a development that is disrupting an industry still finding its footing and operating on a fragile business model.Since Google launched Audio Overview, the first mass-market podcast generator that creates shows from documents and other inputs, just over a year ago, a wave of startups has rushed in, from ElevenLabs to Wondercraft.No studio, no humans at the microphone, not even a recording — yet out comes a lively podcast, banter and all. Whether based on a legal document or a school handout, AI tools can deliver a state-of-the-art podcast at the click of a mouse.A pioneer in this movement is Inception Point AI, which was launched in 2023 and releases about 3,000 podcasts per week with a team of just eight people.The immediate goal is to play the volume game, said Jeanine Wright, Inception’s founder and the former number two at leading audio studio Wondery.With each episode costing one dollar to produce, a mere 20 listens is enough to turn a profit. Automation has lowered the threshold for selling advertising space — previously set at several thousand downloads.Wright gives the example of a “hyper-niche” program about pollen counts in a specific city, heard by a few dozen people that can attract antihistamine advertisers.With the rise of generative AI, many worry about synthetic content of poor quality — often called “AI slop” — flooding the internet, particularly social media.Inception mentions AI’s role in every episode, a disclosure that generates “very little drop-off” among listeners, Wright told AFP.”We find that if people like the (AI) host and the content, then they don’t care that it’s AI-generated or they’ve accepted it.”- Finding an audience -Martin Spinelli, a podcast professor at Britain’s University of Sussex, decried a flood of content that will make it “harder for independent podcasters to get noticed and to develop a following” without the promotional budgets on the scale of Google or Apple.The expected surge in programming will also cut into the advertising revenue of non-AI podcasts.”If someone can make 17 cents per episode, and then suddenly they make 100,000 episodes, that 17 cents is going to add up,” warned Nate DiMeo, creator of “The Memory Palace,” a pioneering podcast for history buffs.The industry veteran, whose program began in 2008, said he’s skeptical about the mass adoption of AI podcasts.But even if listener tastes don’t change significantly, a glut of AI podcasts can “still impact the art form,” independent podcasting where most programs are barely managing to stay afloat.Currently, the three major platforms — Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube — don’t require creators to disclose when a podcast was created by AI.”I would pay money for an AI tool that helps me cut through that noise,” said Spinelli, who finds the streaming giants ineffective at connecting niche content with its target audience.Wright argues it’s pointless to draw a dividing line between AI and non-AI content because “everything will be made with AI,” to one degree or another.She does believe, however, that AI-generated podcasts with synthetic voices will emerge as a distinct genre — somewhat like live-action films and animation, which have proven their storytelling potential and appeal over time.”People dismissing all AI-generated content as slop right now are being thoughtless, because there’s a lot of great, compelling AI content that deserves their interest.”DiMeo doesn’t see it that way. He compares podcasting to reading a novel or listening to a song. You simply want to connect “with some other human consciousness,” he said. “Without that, I find there’s less reason to listen.”