Back in 2018 Republicans like Senator John Thune (Earth hater-SD) were calling Trump tariffs a "Band-Aid" and a "false sense of security" especially for farm states. Again in January Thune was still pessimistic that the incoming Trump administration had the political capital to end the gains under Bidenomics.
Now, panic is sweeping American agriculture as bankers and monolithic corporations keep producers trapped in a death spiral.
The inescapable crop math of sustained crippling commodity prices and high input costs has many growers screaming for immediate relief, potentially via aid payments in late 2025 or early 2026. However, bailouts are Band-Aids over bullet holes. Alarm has turned to extreme despair on many operations. On Sept. 2, 2025, a telltale farm meeting went nuclear. Field representatives from the offices of Sen. Tom Cotton, Sen. John Boozman and Rep. Rick Crawford, along with a rep sent by Gov. Sarah Sanders, initially intended to speak with a handful of growers in Brookland, Ark. Amid the fallout of the Sept. 2 meeting, three farmers sound off on markets, monopolies, moratoriums and mismanagement in U.S. agriculture. They spare no sacred cows. [Outraged Farmers Blame Ag Monopolies as Catastrophic Collapse Looms]It's not just the Farm Journal losing its shit.
Arkansas farm groups have been sounding the alarm for weeks about the financial situation facing producers. The Agricultural Council of Arkansas has said one in three farms in the state could cease operations by next spring if there is not some type of supplemental aid to producers. [Progressive Farmer]Ernie Goss has been warning of collapse for months.
“Weak agriculture commodity prices for grain producers continue to dampen economic activity in the 10-state region. Bank CEOs and chief loan officers expect almost one-fifth, or 19.5%, of grain farmers to experience negative cash flow for 2025. This is unchanged from January of this year, when approximately one-fifth of grain farmers were expected to experience net losses,” said Ernie Goss, PhD, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business. [Rural Mainstreet Economy Falls in Negative Territory]In Republican eastern Montana grasshoppers are feasting on crops.
Learn more at Farm Forum.
“'The situation is dire,' Thune said when he met with South Dakota farmers in his Senate office today. As it pertains to lack of soybean markets Thune said, 'I am a longtime skeptic of tariffs because we are an ag state and we depend on export markets. So tariffs are risky business. The President is convinced tariffs will raise so much revenue for the country. My question is, at what cost? And to who?'”
ReplyDelete"Farmers and ranchers specifically have an array of factors that can, over time, add up and create a seemingly inescapable hopelessness. These factors include: working long hours in inclement weather, high debt burden, market volatility, government policy, the strong feeling of identity that comes with and self worth tied to living and working on generational farms, family pressure, cultural stigma, rural isolation, a higher than average rate of untreated mental illness, barriers to mental health access, stress and burn out, physical health problems that affect identity negatively, exposure to chemicals, and easy access to lethal means."
ReplyDelete"91% of Ag Economists Say Crop Sector in Recession, Losses Likely Through 2026"
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