LOUISVILLE, Ky - Farmers and suppliers from around the country - some from around the world - descended on Louisville last week for the National Farm Machinery Show. 

With the show as a backdrop, we wanted to catch up with Kentucky farmers after a year of trade threats, tariffs, and, recently, phase one of an agreement between President Donald Trump and the Chinese government.

"China was our number 1 buyer of soybeans and that all came to a screeching halt," said Ryan Bivens, recalling the past year. Bivens is a first-generation soybean farmer and a Kentucky State Fair board member. "When the trade negotiations started we saw tariffs thrown in. Now that we are moving [forward], I feel like we’ve gotten over that hill."

We also met with Brennan Gilkison, a Winchester hemp farmer who says he's been producing the plant for seven years. He views a potentially profitable future but criticizes what he calls an oversaturated, underregulated market.

"As bad as we hate to say, 'regulations on the farm,' there needs to be some kind of standardization…" he said, sitting among towering, brand new equipment parked in the Kentucky Expo Center. 

"We said that six years ago when we first started, 'You know, we need to be 10 years ahead.' But, you know, time is against us when we’re doing that."

Patience and perseverance are values commonly associated with the Kentucky farmer. Through uncertain government relations and industry rebirth, those values might just be mandatory.