Negative Margins Pressuring Farmers AFBF Says

A recent Report from the American Farm Bureau Federation shows that financial stress is severe and persistent across farm country.  John Newton, vice president of public policy and economic analysis for AFBF, said the factors behind the stress are well-known.

“Input costs have increased dramatically over the last few years, up in some cases, 30%, 40%, 50%, but at the same time, commodity prices have come crashing down," Newton said.  "For many crops, they’re at historically low levels. Trade has slowed, and the effect is we've had margins that have been at or below break-even for many crops and specialty crops for many years in a row, and that's starting to impact farm financial conditions.”

Newton added trade losses heightened the challenges in an already difficult economic environment.

“As the Chinese backed out of the market, that put further pressure on prices," he said.  "As farmers were harvesting a crop, many of them didn't have storage and had to sell at harvest-time lows. So even though we've got a framework in place, and the Chinese are starting to buy product, for a lot of growers, the economic benefits of these frameworks may come too late.”

Newton added while some help was made available in the One Big Beautiful Bill and the American Relief Act, that assistance won’t reach farmers until sometime in 2026

“The [USDA] has pledged $12 billion in economic support to help offset trade losses. We hope to see details of that in the next few weeks, but the One Big Beautiful Bill, while it made a historic investment in farm bill risk-management programs, those benefits won't materialize on the farm for over a year,” Newton said.

Visit the AFBF's Website to learn more.

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