Real Farms are Having a Real Crisis

While American soybeans rotted in storage, China bought from Brazil and Argentina, and Washington bailed out Argentina. Farm bankruptcies climbed 46 percent.

Republicans own the word “farmer” the way they own the word “freedom.” A prop. A costume worn at county fairs and in front of grain elevators. The last twelve months made the costume hard to wear.

Eighty-six percent of American farms are small family operations. (The USDA draws the line at $350,000 in gross cash farm income. Below that, you are small. Most of the country’s 1.9 million farms are below that.) These are the farms the party swears it protects. These are the farms folding.

The collapse had a setup. It did not come from nowhere.

By the time Trump took the oath again, margins were already thin. Commodity prices had slid off their 2022 highs. Corn, soybeans, wheat, all selling for less. Costs did not follow the prices down. Fertilizer, fuel, machinery, repairs, insurance, labor, all of it stayed expensive. Interest rates climbed, and a small farm feels that more than a big one, because there is less ground to spread the cost across. The weather took its cut, drought in some coun…