BrownfieldAgNews reports:
Jefferson City, MO — Farm groups from across the country are calling for economic support to help producers dealing with depressed markets.
Kam Quarles with Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance and National Potato Council says the crisis facing family farms is much bigger than lost markets in China.
“It’s also ag labor,” he says. “It’s also challenges with a very strong dollar. All of these economic challenges, policy challenges, are creating a very chaotic environment for family farms, and that’s why you see this broad call from U.S. agriculture.”
More than 200 state and national agricultural organizations sent a letter this week to President Trump, saying many farmers will have to wait until October 2026 to get the most significant benefits of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and they need help now.
To view the letter and those who signed it click here.
Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings were up by 56 percent during June from the year prior, the second year of increased filings, and the groups say they expect more bankruptcies in the coming months.
Quarles says USDA has the authority to grant Commodity Credit Corporation funds to farmers without Congressional approval, depending on the purpose, but Congress can also intervene.
“There are a number of different ways that they can provide these solutions,” he says. “I don’t know exactly what they’re thinking of, but I suspect that Congress will want to be there in a meaningful way. and also recognize that they’re seeing this for their own constituents and want to be part of the solution.”
He says economic relief packages should be comprehensive with the end goal of keeping family farms in business. For the specialty crop industry, he points to USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2, created during the first Trump administration, as a model that could deliver.
In a statement to Brownfield, a USDA spokesperson says the farm economy is in a difficult situation, and President Trump is using all the tools available to ensure farmers have what they need to continue their farming operations.
