A bipartisan group of former leaders of America’s major agricultural commodity associations and biofuels organizations, farmer leaders, and former senior U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials have issued a stark warning to Congress about the deteriorating state of the farm economy, calling current conditions a potential “widespread collapse of American agriculture.”
In a letter released February 3 to the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, 27 former agricultural executives and officials with decades of experience detailed how current administration policies have harmed the farm economy and the need to take substantial action.
The signatories include past presidents and CEOs of the American Soybean Association, National Corn Growers Association, National Pork Producers Council, National Barley Growers Association, National Milk Producers Federation, U.S. Grains Council, and Renewable Fuels Association, past Directors of the Illinois and Nebraska Departments of Agriculture, and other farm leaders and senior agricultural policy experts.
“The policies of this administration have caused tremendous harm to U.S. agriculture,” the letter states. “Farmer bankruptcies have doubled, barely half of all farms will be profitable this year, and the U.S. is running a historic agriculture trade deficit.”
The group’s concerns reflect a dramatic reversal from the record farm export surpluses and farm incomes experienced just a few years ago. According to the letter, U.S. whole soybean exports have fallen from 47% of world market share in 2018 to just 24.4% today – a 50% reduction – while Brazil has gained more than 20% market share during the same period.
“There are few tragedies greater than the loss of a family farm, representing not just a loss of livelihood but a loss of a way of life for rural families,” the letter says. “And when American farmers suffer, the entire rural economy is impacted – from schools, to churches, to main street businesses.”
The former agricultural executives identified multiple contributing factors:
- Increased farm input costs driven by tariffs on fertilizer, farm chemicals and machinery parts
- Loss of export markets due to trade wars and withdrawal from trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership
- Weakening of international trade partnerships as traditional allies turn to other suppliers
- Disruptions to agricultural labor supply affecting dairy, fruit and produce, and meat processing
- Massive cuts to USDA staffing and agricultural research funding
- Reductions in foreign aid and domestic food programs
“Farmers don’t want government handouts – they want markets,” the letter says. “They want world-class research so that they can compete. They want their families and communities to have affordable health care services.”
The group called on Congress to take immediate action with nine specific recommendations, including exempting all farm inputs from tariffs, passing legislation for E15 ethanol, passing Trade Promotion Authority, completing review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and passing a new farm bill and farm labor reform.
The signatories also announced that they will be holding meetings with farmers to gather input and encourage action and urged members of Congress, state departments of agriculture, and agricultural associations to take similar steps “to hear directly from farmers about the state of the farm economy, the causes of our current farm crisis, and the policy changes that are needed.”
“We can only hope rural America will survive the current tumult long enough for the administration, Congress and leaders of both parties to recognize the threat and find the temerity to work together on real solutions,” the letter says.
The letter’s authors represent a broad bipartisan cross section of agriculture, including corn, soybean, pork, barley, and wheat farmers, past executives of commodity, farmer, and biofuel trade associations, and former government officials with expertise in ag markets and farm policy, including:
- Harold Wolle, retired Minnesota Farmer and past president, National Corn Growers Association
- Bart Ruth, Nebraska farmer and past president, American Soybean Association
- Pam Johnson, retired Iowa farmer and past president, National Corn Growers Association and founder, International Maize Alliance of Corn Growers Associations
- Donna Reifschneider, past president, National Pork Producers Council and former administrator, Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration, George W. Bush Administration
- Jim Mulhern, past president and CEO, National Milk Producers Federation
- Ron Gray, past chair, U.S. Grains Council
- Jon Doggett, past CEO, National Corn Growers Association
- Larry Elworth, former senior adviser, USDA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Dawn R. Riley, former George W. Bush, USDA appointee and former agriculture staffer to Sen. Mitch McConnell
- Thomas Hebert, former USDA Deputy Under Secretary, Natural Resources and the Environment
- Melina Fox, Indiana farmer, former staff, USDA, Farm Service Agency (FSA), former Bush appointee, USDA Rural Development
- Charles David Willett, past senior director, public policy, National Corn Growers Association
- Robert L. Thompson, Former Assistant Secretary for Economics, USDA, and former senior staff economist for Food and Agriculture, President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers
