Across the country, farmers are struggling with particularly difficult financial realities. The past year has seen extreme flooding in the Midwest and drought in the West, a tariff war that resulted in commodity prices plummeting, and falling land value.
That combination of factors has left some wondering about the health of America’s farming economy, and worrying that the country may be headed toward a farm crisis like the one seen in the 1980s, when farmers experienced mass foreclosures. Testifying before the House Agriculture Committee in February, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue sounded the alarm on debt. “Farm debt has been rising more rapidly over the last five years, increasing by 30 percent since 2013—up from $315 billion to $409 billion, according to USDA data, and up from $385 billion in just the last year—to levels seen in the 1980s,” Perdue said.
Dr. Alan Cairns | 3/9/2009
