Throughout this year’s American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Anaheim, Calif., one overriding theme dominated the conversation: Farmers need help.
A “perfect storm,” many speakers said, has brought hard times to many who make a living in agriculture. By now, the causes of that storm are well documented: Low commodity prices. Skyrocketing input costs. Labor costs and availability. Trade barriers.
The U.S. has 160,000 fewer farms than in 2017, noted Zippy Duvall, American Farm Bureau Federation president. And just last year, according to Duvall, farmers across the country lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $44 billion.
Blame game
Who you blame for the state of the industry largely depends on your political persuasion. Regardless of your perspective, the blame game won’t help farmers. What they now need from the government is real answers to long-standing problems.
Congress responded with a $12 billion “bridge payment” program in December. From that, $11 billion will be distributed to row crop farmers by late February. The remaining $1 billion will assist specialty crop producers at a later date. According to Duvall, that amount “does not go anywhere near” fulfilling the needs of farmers.
“The most urgent crisis facing American agriculture today is lack of labor,” Duvall said. “Congress must find a way to overhaul our guest worker program and fix the shortcoming of it in the years to come.”
Improving markets and opening more trade opportunities for farmers might be just as urgent.
Former President Joe Biden has been roundly criticized for not negotiating any new trade deals during his four years in office.
After one year of his second term, President Donald Trump has made progress in negotiating framework deals with multiple countries. However, most of those agreements still must be finalized before the agriculture industry can reap any benefits.
Farmers can’t afford further delays on those deals. With farms continuing to go broke at an alarming rate, lawmakers must understand that now is the time for action.
Farm bill?
Some hope that a new farm bill with improvements to safety net programs, disaster relief and rural development initiatives will help.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., expects to address the remaining outstanding farm bill issues in February. If all goes as planned, he said ag committee members will consider Farm Bill 2.0 during a month-end markup session. Thompson said he’s also spoken to House Speaker Mike Johnson to ensure floor time is available to pass the bill.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve been here before. In 2024, Thompson managed to get a bill out of committee, but it did not advance. Again, the reasons why depend on your political perspective.
This time around Thompson and other ag leaders say they are more confident a bipartisan agreement will be brokered that can pass the House and Senate.
Farmers should let lawmakers know they need more than confidence — they need certainty.
What about Trump?
Of course, Congress can only control so much. For Trump, levying tariffs is a key priority. During an admittedly uncomfortable meeting with the president, Duvall said he told him that the farmers support trade, not tariffs. Trump reportedly responded that he needed tariffs to bring people to the table and help fix farmers’ problems.
“My comment to him was: ‘We pray to God that you’re right,’ ” Duvall said.
Farmers are praying Trump is right, too. And if he’s not, they must hold him accountable.