AFBF: more red state farmers headed to the shitter

Ag producers have destroyed shelter belts to plant industrial crops that deplete aquifers and now drought is blowing toxin-laden topsoil into downwind states. Spring wildfire seasons have begun in Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, the panhandles of Oklahoma, Texas and other Republican-held areas where moral hazard and poor ranching practices routinely decimate the high plains. 

And, as the Trump Organization wars against its own constituency, ends environmental protection and ag bankers enslave landowners more farmers are headed for bankruptcy. The number of farms filing for bankruptcy increased in 2025 after the relative prosperity during the Biden years according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Economists say the increase in filings is due to a combination of rising operational costs on the farm, such as fertilizer and machinery, and low crop prices that are putting pressure on farmers. Farm bankruptcy filings are typically a lagging indicator that farmers are facing financial distress. [More American farmers are filing for bankruptcy. Here’s why]

Learn more at Brownfield News.

Operation Epstein Fury causing fertilizer heartburn for welfare farmers

We, the People get much of our fertilizer from Morocco, Belarus and through the Persian Gulf but Trump tariffs and Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico slowed the movement of product to markets up and down the Mississippi River. Nitrogen fertilizer is normally applied to subsidized crops then ends right back in the Gulf of Mexico where it kills whole ecosystems. 

Now, Herr Trump's deflection from his history of raping little girls is taking its toll on the people who voted for him.

But with farmers already dealing with high fertilizer prices, even before the conflict in Iran, farmers are searching for a longer-term solution. Fertilizer market analysts warn while there are several options longer-term, there is no single fix for high fertilizer prices, only a mix of short-term policy responses and long-term investments that could gradually stabilize supply. Companies reportedly included in the investigation are Nutrien, The Mosaic Company, CF Industries Holdings, Koch Industries and Yara International, firms that collectively represent a significant share of the U.S. nitrogen, phosphate and potash fertilizer markets. [Farm Journal]

Koch is one of four corporations that control the production and sale of nitrogen-based fertilizer in the US. The others are Yara-USA, CF Industries and Nutrien so the Family Farm Action Alliance, a 501c3 non-profit group has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the avaricious rises in fertilizer prices. Chemical Ag gives loads of cash to Earth haters like John Thune.

October 26, 2022

Wade Christopherson 

Nutrien Ag Solutions 

806 W Broadway 

Vermillion, SD 57069

Dear Mr. Christopherson,

On October 18, 2022, the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) conducted a Restricted Use Dealer Record Audit at Nutrien Ag Solutions in Vermillion, SD. DANR’s audit found that restricted use products were sold to unlicensed applicators. Such violations are a Class 2 misdemeanor subject to civil penalties of up to $5,000 per offense and/or suspension or revocation of a license.

Mr. Christopherson is married to Stephanie Rissler who is Chair of the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Pollute Commission.

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