Farmers across the country are sending an SOS to Congress: Delaying enactment of much-needed improvements to the farm safety net harms the farmers we rely on every single day to feed us.
Without a five-year Farm Bill, America will lose more farms, and we will become increasingly dependent on other countries to feed us.
We are already losing too many farms. “Farmers desperately need help,” Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR) said on the Senate floor on Monday. “Many farm families are ending 2024 in the red, unable to pay off this year’s operating loan, unable to get the loan to farm in 2025, and face the reality of being the next generation to have lost the family farm due to extreme market conditions beyond their control.”
More than five dozen financial experts and farm lenders wrote to Congress earlier this year warning that “American farmers are experiencing economic stress due to falling prices, rising interest rates, and high input costs. Sugarbeet and sugarcane sugar producers are no different.”
Our agricultural trade deficit with other countries has grown alarmingly, with America – formerly the food basket of the world – importing an expected $45.5 billion more in agricultural goods than we export. That means we are already reliant on other nations for our food and fiber. We’ve been talking a lot about the budget and policy options for a new Farm Bill, but plain and short, the policy decisions on Capitol Hill have real practical impacts on family farmers.
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“It’s become so expensive to farm. We are harvesting right now in Florida, and it costs me $1,000 just to fill a tractor with diesel. The current Farm Bill just doesn’t reflect how much farmers are currently investing into agriculture.”
Keith Wedgworth
Sugarcane farmer from Florida
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“As a younger farmer, I need to secure an operating loan to have the money I need upfront to purchase seed and get my crop in the ground. But since Congress hasn’t passed a new Farm Bill yet, the bank isn’t lending as much money to farmers – or they’re asking farmers to pay more for a loan. If I can’t get an affordable loan this spring, I might not be able to farm at all.”
Ben Jantz
Sugarbeet farmer from Idaho
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“We’ve been through the woes of low prices before, but it takes a well-established farm to get through it and it’s hard for a young farmer to survive. Sugarbeets are the bright spot right now. I would say the other crops we grow, anything that wasn’t sold ahead last winter, we’re looking at substantial losses on those acres with the cost of production what it is.”
Lynn Johnson
Sugarbeet farmer from Minnesota
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“My daughter Audrey is three and my son KJ is one. I hope that they can continue the family tradition of sugarcane farming. We need a strong Farm Bill.”
Kyle Zenon
Sugarcane farmer from Louisiana
America’s farm and ranch families are urgently calling on Congress to deliver greater certainty for rural America, provide a stronger farm safety net, and strengthen our national food security.
All of us who benefit from the bountiful and efficient food and agriculture system in America should also demand it.
Click here to read an op-ed from the former Chief Economist at USDA