A group of Chinese buyers signed agreements to purchase 484 million bushels of soybeans worth $5.3 billion last week during a visit to Des Moines.

"That’s almost Iowa’s total soybean production," said American Soybean Association Chairman Ray Gaesser, a farmer from southwest Iowa. "This business is especially valuable to U.S. farmers as another bumper crop is just around the corner."

The group signed 24 contracts with several U.S. grain handlers, including ADM, Bunge, Cargill, CHS and Louis Dreyfuss, during the annual buying event....