America’s farmers and producers are the backbone of our nation’s agricultural economy and food security. Despite their critical role in our lives – to feed, clothe, and fuel not only the United States but the entire world – our farmers are struggling to survive.
The current state of the agricultural economy is bleak. Input costs are rising, commodity prices are falling, and our farmers cannot break even, much less make a profit.
According to the Department of Agriculture, net farm income this year is projected to decline 4.4% from 2023. This follows a shocking 19.5% decline from 2022, which means farm income has seen a drastic 23% decline from just two years ago. These figures represent over $40 billion in lost revenue for America’s hardworking producers, the largest two-year decline ever.
Row croppers are facing the worst financial blow of all farmers, with a $27.7 billion decline in cash receipts since last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
In Alabama, producers are yielding bumper crops of cotton, peanuts, corn, and soybeans, yet they can’t make a profit due to rising costs of production.
A multitude of factors over which producers have no control are impacting their bottom lines. These include a lack of domestic energy production, skyrocketing inflation, rising costs of labor and the H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR), and the increased price of feed, fertilizer, and pesticides. Issues plaguing American producers have only been made worse by the harmful policies of the Biden-Harris administration.
America’s agricultural producers are facing a tough road ahead. Many fear that their farm loans may not be renewed, cash flows will dry up, and interest rates on the money they need to borrow to operate farms will continue to rise.
Although Congress only has a few legislative days left to act, we must stop adding fuel to the fire and pass a farm bill that helps our farmers. Producers need a strong safety net to help them weather fluctuating commodity markets, rising input costs, and a growing deficit in agricultural trade.
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Farmers across the country have varying levels of risk, impacted by land and equipment costs, access to irrigation, and variable input requirements. Considering no farmer’s risks are the same, we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach in the farm bill to address the farm safety net.
Row croppers across the South heavily rely upon Title 1 commodity programs in the farm bill, particularly the Price Loss Program and the Agriculture Risk Program, while Midwest producers heavily utilize crop insurance. While there may be overlap across regions amongst these programs, we must fix the entire safety net, not just parts of it.
Farmers are operating off 2012 effective reference prices for both PLC and ARC, price support programs, which were enacted in the 2014 farm bill. However, costs of production are 22% to 31% higher today than they were a decade ago – making current reference prices completely irrelevant.
We don’t have any time to waste. Our farmers are facing an uphill battle to remain in business. Even if a farm bill is passed this year, producers won’t receive any commodity program support until the fall of 2026.
Senate Republicans stand ready to act on the solid bipartisan bill the House Agriculture Committee passed earlier this year. Yet, Senate Democrats and the Biden-Harris administration refuse to come to the table to find practical, bipartisan solutions to the many problems our farmers are facing. In fact, the administration would rather focus on expanding welfare and climate change initiatives.
Without immediate action to assist row crop producers, our nation’s agricultural industry may be irreparably harmed. According to USDA data, America has lost approximately 150,000 farms and 25,000 farmers in our country over the last five years. We can’t afford any more losses without forcing industry consolidation and reliance on foreign nations to import our food.
I will continue to be the voice of Southern agricultural producers in the Senate and will ensure they have a seat at the table for all upcoming Farm Bill discussions.
Tommy Tuberville is the senior senator from Alabama and a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. and the ranking member of the the Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy.