Posted on 09/04/2025 8:52:35 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
One in three or more farms in Arkansas could be shuttered by next spring if the federal government doesn’t provide some type of supplemental assistance to farmers this fall, Agriculture Council of Arkansas President Joe Mencer told Talk Business & Politics.
Commodity prices continue to plunge and as of mid-August the state’s ag sector was projected to lose $1.145 billion this season and that number has ballooned by another $300 million by the end of the month to $1.4 billion as rice prices spiraled downward to an eight-year low.
And, the overall losses will almost certainly continue to rise, Mencer said.
The Ag Council has submitted two letters, one to the White House and the other to the U.S. Trade Representative, seeking relief in a number of areas, said Ag Council Executive Director Andrew Grobmyer. The federal government has reported a record $100 billion in tariff collections, and many in the farm sector would like some of that money used to supplement farmers, he said.
“First of all, we’re in dire straits,” Mencer said. “Ag is in turmoil right now.”
Mencer and Grobmyer will head to Washington, D.C., next week to personally relay their concerns to members of the Arkansas congressional delegation, representatives from the White House, and the U.S. Trade Representative.
The tumult in the ag industry will impact many other ancillary businesses, too. Ag equipment dealers, parts dealers, crop dusting companies, and many others have had sales plunge as much as 50% this year, Mencer said. Banks are reporting that as much as 25% of current farmers won’t be able to get financed for next year as of right now and that number will continue to balloon, he added.
Many rural banks that rely on the ag sector may be shuttered as well if relief isn’t distributed, he said.
Some actions taken by lawmakers have helped the farm community during this downward spiral that began three years ago, Grobmyer said. The Emergency Commodity Assistance Program saved some farmers up to 25% of their projected losses. The recently passed federal budget, dubbed the “One, Big Beautiful Bill” has provisions that raise reference prices.
But it won’t take effect until the 2026 harvest season, and many farmers in Arkansas won’t be in business next year if something isn’t done, Grobmyer said.
The ongoing shuffle of the global trade markets has disproportionately impacted farmers, and that’s why the organization is seeking measures that will funnel tariff dollars into a farmer supplemental program, Grobmyer said. Even if trade negotiations are finalized soon, it won’t be in time to help farmers with this year’s crop, Mencer added.
Other measures they may seek are incentives to broaden the renewable fuels markets. They also support sourcing the Buy American Cotton Act and the Grown in America Act.
Another looming problem for farmers is storage, Mencer said. Commodity prices were so low last year that many farmers kept grains in storage rather than selling them at a loss, he said. Now the new crop is coming in, and there is no place to store it.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of grain piled up on the ground,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
The Ag Council sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative to address the ongoing issues with Brazil. That country is slashing and burning its rain forests to create ag land and it sells most of its commodities to China. The Chinese are investing heavily in infrastructure in the country, building railroads, roads and ports to transport these commodities.
American farmers have to pay tech fees, meet emissions standards, and pay much higher labor costs, Mencer said. This means that Brazilian farmers can produce soybeans at a much lower cost and can sell them at a lower cost putting U.S. farmers at a disadvantage, he said.
About 70% of commodities grown in Brazil go to China. This allows the Chinese to coerce farmers there to buy equipment and products from Chinese vendors, Grobmyer added. More than 20 years ago, Mencer went to Brazil, and they were not using modern equipment, seeds or farming techniques. That has all changed, he said.
“Brazil is a key source of pain for American farmers,” Grobmyer said.
Arkansas does have some political strength when it comes to pursuing these programs to “bridge” the gap between this harvest and next year. Each of the state’s congressional members has a chairmanship or key leadership role in committees with direct or indirect ties to the ag industry.
Gov. Sarah Sanders was given copies of the letters sent, and in recent months she has been traveling the state to host a series of ag roundtable talks with farmers and other stakeholders.
Grobmyer said he hopes this political clout will produce results soon. If not, the outlook for the farm community is bleak, he said.
“There is a true disaster looming on the horizon,” he said.
The Chinese will be ready to buy through their surrogates any land that becomes available. Better to hold land than Treasury notes.
... Bill Gates....................
When farmers are getting wiped out, it’s difficult if not impossible to keep acreage off the market.
Sounds to me like the farmers need the government to get their snouts out of their business and reduce the innumerable regulations and requirements and thereby their costs. Not just in the farming business but every industry that touches theirs.
My Okla Rep Lucas GOPe, is all about getting his farm bills passed, no matter what. He works with the Dememy and half the budget doesn’t help farmers, but is for welfare, EBT’s, Wick payments, school food handouts and the like.
My brother-in-law is a corn seed salesman. I am in the energy business. We both lament that the price of corn and the price of natural gas are about the same when we began our careers in the late 80’s. It is even worse if inflation-adjusted.
“rice prices spiraled downward to an eight-year low”
Well I can’t say we are seeing this in the super markets that’s for darn sure - I just bought rice because it was on sale and the sales price (about 10% lower then regular) was still only around where it was 3 years ago.
Well, I farmed for a year and grew a crop of corn
That stretched as far as the eye can see
That’s a whole lot of cornflakes,
Near enough to feed New York till 1973
Cultivation is my station and the nation
Buys my corn from me immediately
And holding sixty thousand bucks, I watch as dumper trucks
Tip New York’s corn flakes in the sea
Now I’m a farmer, and I’m digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
Now I’m a farmer, and I’m digging, digging, digging, digging, digging
It’s alarming how charming it is to be a-farming
How calming and balming the effect of the air
-The Who
Disclaimer: we buy from some small local farmers who have nothing to do with this. But, here is an indication of the BIG in farming -- as in Cargill, Monsanto, Bayer, and even some hedge funds and more:
When I read $100 billion Cargill into the "send us money" messages, it rings other than they likely intend.Top 8 Biggest Agricultural Companies in USA [2025 Ranking] Agrolearner, n.d.
Top Agriculture Companies in United States Ensun, n.d.
Complete List of Agriculture Companies in the US USearch, n.d.
The Agricultural Council of Arkansas "Who We Are" includes sponsors like Bayer and Tyson Foods (a Clinton favorite, since Clintons were in Arkansas and Tyson was among their big donors),
I'm not in favor of the Red Chinese owning U.S. land.
That said, we can always nationalize their ownership if they get too muscular.
They would probably sue for just compensation but, in any event, they are not going to haul the land back to mainland China.
That's another thing we need to do: refer to them as either Red China or mainland China.
Sounds like Ark farmers are begging for government cash.
How about...NO!
Amen.
I would support helping farmers with obtaining automation for their picking needs.
How is Arkansas targeted?
Time to end the mystique and sacredness of farming. It is a business and mostly large corporations at that. As with any business we should cease immediately all subsidies loans guarantees land banks etc but also cease all the regs and governemt nonsense.
No one not even farmers have a guaranteed way of life. My family has moved on from farming then rust belt manufacturing. No one whined that we should be subsidized to continue are preferred occupations.
Agricultural output has been a means of coercing other nations. That sounds ugly so instead it's "mystique and sacredness".
“Everybody should have fair access to Reardon Steel.”
I don’t buy it. I could not even find one crop named. I did just scan the long article.
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