Groups warn of ag sector collapse

Since at least 2017 Creighton University's Ernie Goss has been warning that the Trump Organization is bad for American agriculture.

Late 2025 marked the most severe three-month cost-price gap for U.S. agricultural producers since 2015, driven by soaring production costs and lower commodity returns.  

Key findings from the USDA data and analysis:

• Deepening Deficit: October 2025 was the worst month in over a decade for the cost-price spread.
• Worst 3-Month Period: The final quarter of 2025 saw record-breaking gaps, with October (-34.1), December (-32.2), and November (-27.9) being the most severe.
• Long-term Trend: This is not a new issue; farmers have faced a cost-price deficit in every single month since at least January 2015.
• Production Costs vs. Revenue: In late 2025, production costs reached a point where they were 50% higher than in 2011, while prices received for crops and livestock were only 21% higher.
• Contributing Factors: High input costs (fuel, fertilizer,, labor) combined with reduced commodity prices (e.g., corn falling from $7 to closer to $4 per bushel) are forcing difficult financial decisions for farmers.

So, a cynical observer might suspect bankers provided gloomy outlooks to the Rural Mainstreet Index for the last five months of the Biden administration especially in midwestern swing states to sink Democratic Party prospects in 2024 just as Republicans in congress stalled immigration reform because it makes sense to Earth haters that after he was elected again the Orange Julius would run America into the dirt so banks can foreclose on the whole dealio to massage auction price points. 

Data from December 2024 indicated that the average South Dakota household needed to spend approximately $191 more per month to maintain the same standard of living as the previous year, with cumulative costs since January 2021 being significantly higher, particularly for transportation, shelter, and food. Factors like tariffs have complicated anti-inflation efforts, and some sectors, such as the cattle industry, are experiencing higher costs. South Dakota experienced a 2.8% headline inflation rate in August 2025, with core inflation (excluding food and energy) at 3.0%.

A bipartisan group of former leaders of America's major agricultural commodity associations and biofuels organizations, farmer leaders, and former senior USDA officials sent congressional ag leaders a letter on Tuesday warning about the deteriorating state of the farm economy, stating there is a risk of "widespread collapse of American agriculture." The letter comes as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer (AEB) Index fell in January. [DTN/Progressive Farmer]

Yes, the grassland fire danger index will reach the very high category again Thursday for much of the horrible red state of South Dakota.