Tom Polansek and P.J. Huffstutter
Feb. 4, 2026, 11:04 a.m. ET
- American farmers are experiencing significant financial losses due to rising costs and trade disputes.
- A $12 billion government aid program is expected to cover only a fraction of farmers’ total losses.
- Former agriculture leaders warn of a potential widespread collapse in the industry due to current policies.
CHICAGO ― The chair of the U.S. Senate’s agriculture committee warns that farmers are suffering heavy losses, while more than two dozen former industry leaders are sounding the alarm about the risk of a “widespread collapse of American agriculture” ahead of a $12 billion government bailout expected to reach growers this month.
For three years, the costs of seed, fertilizer and other farm inputs have risen while plentiful grain supplies limited profits for farmers, economists say. Then, President Donald Trump returned to office last year, sparking trade disputes that disrupted U.S. crop exports and immigration crackdowns that increased labor costs and left some farms with crops rotting in fields.
Many farmers are now bracing to potentially lose money for a fourth consecutive year. Tough credit conditions are forcing those with limited cash flows to make decisions about what acres to plant and how much fertilizer to buy, economists say.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a webcast of a conference of state agriculture officials in Washington that farmers growing crops are “losing money, lots of money.” And former U.S. Department of Agriculture and industry officials said in a letter to U.S. lawmakers that Trump administration policies harmed farmers.
The New York Times reported that one of the 27 signatories to the letter, Jon Doggett, the former chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association, said in an interview that “our farmers and ranchers can compete with the world, but they can’t compete with the world with a chaotic set of policy circumstances.”
In other grim agriculture developments:
- The Trump administration’s $12 billion aid program, announced last year, will only cover a fraction of farmers’ losses, agricultural economists and bankers say. The USDA said in a statement to Reuters that Trump was using every tool available to support farmers and ensure they have what they need to continue farming operations.
- Bankers reported a nearly 40% jump in new farm operating loans in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier, according to a Federal Reserve survey. The average size of such operating notes was 30% bigger during 2025 than a year earlier, according to an analysis of the data by Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City staff.
- The percentage of farmers expecting bad financial times in the next year jumped to 59% in January from 47% in December, according to a survey released Tuesday by Purdue University and CME Group. The percentage of producers who thought U.S. agriculture would have widespread bad times during the next five years climbed to 46% from 24% a month earlier, the survey found.
