By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — American farmers welcomed China’s promise to buy some of their soybeans, but they cautioned this won’t solve all their problems as they continue to deal with soaring prices for fertilizer, tractors, repair parts and seeds.

The Chinese promise to buy at least 25 million metric tons of soybeans annually for next three years will bring their purchases back in line with where they were at before President Donald Trump launched his trade war with China in the spring. But the 12 million metric tons that China plans to buy between now and January is only about half the typical annual volume.

“This is a very good thing. I’m very grateful,” said Iowa farmer Robb Ewoldt, who is a director with the United Soybean Board. “I don’t want to sound like a ungrateful farmer, but it doesn’t cure everything in the short term.”

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said China also agreed to remove all its retaliatory tariffs on American ag products, which should open the door for sales of other crops and beef. Plus, China promised to resume buying U.S. sorghum, which is another crop largely used for animal feed that depends on that market. More than half the sorghum and soybean crops are exported every year with much of that going to China.

Having these promises from China should make it easier for farmers to get the loans they need heading into next year, but Ewoldt said “I hope the administration doesn’t think that this solves everything in the next 6 to 8 months or ten months.”

Trump had promised to offer farmers a significant aid package this fall to help them survive the trade war with China, but it’s been put on hold because of the ongoing government shutdown. Rollins said that aid package is still in the works, but she promised the administration is ready to “step in the gap” and address any sort of harm the trade war has caused farmers.

“We’ll see what the market does and we will be ready to continue to step in if in fact, we believe it’s necessary,” Rollins said.

China is the world’s largest buyer of soybeans. It had been consistently buying about one quarter of the American crop in recent years. China bought more than $12.5 billion worth of the nearly $24.5 billion worth of U.S. soybeans that were exported last year.

China quit buying American soybeans this year after Trump imposed his tariffs. Yet it had been steadily shifting more of its purchases over to Brazil and other South American nations ever since Trump’s initial trade war with China in his first term.

Last year, Brazilian beans accounted for more than 70% of China’s imports, while the U.S. share fell to 21%, World Bank data shows. Argentina and other South American countries also are selling more to China, which has diversified to boost food security.

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Farmer Caleb Ragland, who is president of the American Soybean Association trade group, said this agreement lays the foundation for restoring China’s traditional purchases of 25 million to 30 million metric tons of American soybeans.

“This is a meaningful step forward to reestablishing a stable, long-term trading relationship that delivers results for farm families and future generations,” said Ragland, who farms near Magnolia, Kentucky.

Indiana farmer Brent Bible said this deal with China sounds good— as long as they actually do what they promised, unlike what happened with the trade agreement China signed with the United States in 2020 after Trump’s initial trade war. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade between the two nations just as the agreement went into effect. In 2022, U.S. farm exports to China hit a record, but then fell.

“If we see actionable purchases and follow through by China, then it’s great,” Bible said.

A former dance instructor from Lakeville who repeatedly sexually assaulted a teen student has been given two months in the Dakota County jail and seven years of probation.

Timothy Mark Olson Jr. (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Timothy Mark Olson Jr., 36, was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in August to the sole count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for acts that authorities say took place with a teenage girl at his home from June 2022 through the end of that year.

The victim went to Lakeville police in November 2023 and reported Olson sexually assaulted her at his home approximately five to eight times in the summer and fall of 2022, while she was under the age of 18.

She said Olson was her instructor at a dance studio beginning when she was in ninth grade and that her parents began paying him to teach her individual lessons when she was an 11th-grader. Olson started contacting the girl through Instagram messages, which “started out innocuous but progressed to asking Victim to come to his residence in Lakeville,” the criminal complaint said.

Olson made a straight plea to the charge — meaning no agreement was in place with the prosecution — and faced a presumptive three-year stayed sentence under state guidelines.

Olson’s attorney asked Judge Krista Marks for no additional time beyond the one day he had served after his arrest, or, in the alternative, 180 days on house arrest.

His 60-day jail sentence will begin Feb. 16, court records show. His sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation.

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By ANDY WONG

JIUQUAN, China (AP) — China said Thursday it’s on track to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 as it introduced the next crew of astronauts who will head to its space station as part of the country’s ambitious plans to be a leader in space exploration.

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“Currently, each program of the research and development work of putting a person on the moon is progressing smoothly,” said Zhang Jingbo, spokesman for the China Manned Space Program, citing the Long March 10 rocket, moon landing suits and exploration vehicle, as fruitful efforts of that work. “Our fixed goal of China landing a person on the moon by 2030 is firm.”

China is also preparing to send up its latest rotation of astronauts who make up part of the ongoing mission to complete the Tiangong space station, part of its broader space exploration plans. Each team stays inside the station for six months, conducting research.

The latest crew joining others on the station will be made up of Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang. They will take off from the Jiuquan launch center Friday at 11:44 p.m. in China. Zhang was previously part of the Shenzhou 15 mission to the station. For Wu and Zhang, this will be their first time in space.

The astronauts will also carry four mice with them on this trip, two male and two female. They will study the effects of weightlessness and confinement on the animals.

China began work on the Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns over the Chinese space program’s direct link to the People’s Liberation Army.

By MIKE CORDER and MOLLY QUELL

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom and the centrist D66 were tied with nearly all votes counted Thursday in the Dutch general election in an unprecedented neck-and-neck race to become the biggest party.

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The near-total count tallied and published by Dutch national news agency ANP and cited by Dutch media showed each party winning 26 seats in Wednesday’s election.

The nail-biting finish is expected to lead to delays in starting the process of forming a new coalition. No Dutch election has previously ended with two parties tied for the lead.

When D66 reached its previous record of 24 seats in in 2021, the leader at the time, Sigrid Kaag, danced for joy on a table at a party meeting.

This time, current D66 leader Rob Jetten cut cake for the party faithful gathered at Parliament.

“This is the best result for D66 ever,” the 38-year old told a crowd party insiders and media on Thursday morning after he’d been welcomed with chants of the party’s optimistic election slogan “Het kan wel,” or “It is possible.”

Wilders’ Party for Freedom is forecast to lose 11 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, while D66 gains 17, according to the vote count.

Wilders insisted early Thursday that his party, known by its Dutch acronym PVV, should play a leading role in coalition talks if it is the largest.

“As long as there’s no 100% clarity on this, no D66 scout can get started. We will do everything we can to prevent this,” he said. A scout is an official appointed by the winning party to look into possible coalitions.

Wilders faces an uphill battle to return to government, however. Mainstream parties including D66 have ruled out forming a coalition with the PVV, arguing that Wilders’ decision to torpedo the outgoing four-party coalition in June in a dispute over migration underscored that he is an untrustworthy partner.

As a result, which party ultimately gets the largest number of seats is “completely and utterly irrelevant,” political scientist Henk van der Kolk told The Associated Press.

Van der Kolk sees a possible path forward with a centrist coalition of D66, the center-left bloc of the Labor Party and Green Left, the center-right Christian Democrats and the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy.

In fallout from the vote, former European Commission vice president Frans Timmermans said he was quitting Dutch politics after the center-left bloc he led lost seats in an election it had hoped to win.

The election is “unlikely to mark the end of populism in the Netherlands,” said Armida van Rij, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank. She noted that another right-wing party, JA21, which she described as a “PVV-light party with equally undemocratic ideas,” made big gains. The party had one seat in the last parliament and is forecast to rise to nine seats.

The vote came against a backdrop of deep polarization in the Netherlands, a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance. Violence erupted at a recent anti-immigration rally in The Hague — when rioters smashed the windows of the D66 headquarters — and protests against new asylum-seeker centers have been seen in municipalities around the country.

In the splintered Dutch political landscape, forming a coalition is likely to take weeks or months.

While party leaders were handing out cake to their members, thousands of volunteers were trying to finalize the ballot count.

The ballots of some 135,000 Dutch nationals who voted by mail are also outstanding. The Electoral College will certify the count next week.

Counting was halted in the southern town of Venray, a Wilders stronghold, after a fuse box caught fire and volunteers were evacuated. No one was injured but it was not clear when work will resume.