Farmers across America are facing the worst economic crisis in a generation. You’ll hear the media and Democrats blaming President Donald Trump, but if you ask a farmer, that’s far from the full story.
Farmers across America are facing the worst economic crisis in a generation. You’ll hear the media and Democrats blaming President Donald Trump, but if you ask a farmer, that’s far from the full story.
They’ll quickly tell you the real issue is the skyrocketing cost of doing business in today’s economy.
As a lawmaker, farmer and lifelong supporter of rural communities, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the people who grow our food and fuel our state’s number one industry.
I’m hearing not only concern about prices of crops like soybeans and corn, but also growing frustration over how expensive it’s become just to produce them.
Let’s put this into perspective.
Tractor prices have gone up more than 50% between 2017 and 2023, according to research by the University of Illinois. This is a massive increase in just six years.
That’s before you start adding the cost of parts, herbicides, diesel, labor and fertilizer, which are all essential just to get a crop in the ground and out of the field. Everything costs significantly more today than it did five years ago.
While every American has felt the pain of crippling inflation and high interest rates, farmers have been hit even harder.
During the past four years of President Joe Biden’s administration, input costs skyrocketed.
Data from U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins showed:
- Seed costs: up 18%
- Fuel and oil: up 32%
- Electricity: up 36%
- Fertilizer: up 37%
- Labor: up 48%
- Interest expenses: up a staggering 73%
These aren’t just numbers on a page. These are real costs coming out of family farm budgets and often the difference between staying afloat or going bankrupt.
As production costs rise and crop prices fall, farmers face an increasingly unsustainable position. Add unpredictable weather and market instability, and you’ve got the makings of a full-blown farm crisis.
Tariffs often get the blame, and yes, trade tensions do affect prices. But they’re just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
Tariffs have become an easy political target, when in reality, domestic economic pressures like inflation, rising interest rates and soaring input costs are squeezing our farmers the most.
These are complex issues needing more attention and stronger solutions from Washington.
It’s important for people to understand the weight of this threat.
According to recent projections, Tennessee’s corn, cotton, soybean, and wheat farmers are on track to see net farm-level losses of more than $430 million in 2025, according to the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA).
Combined with 2024’s losses, Tennessee farmers will have lost an estimated $728 million in just two years, according to Tennessee Farm Bureau.
Losses like that don’t just hurt the farmers, it ripples through our entire state economy.
Agriculture and forestry contributed $103 billion to Tennessee’s economy, accounting for more than 11% of all economic activity in 2022, according to a 2025 economic report published by the Haslam School of Business at the University of Tennessee.
Tennessee farmers in 2023 earned $5.2 billion in cash receipts, with $3.2 billion coming from crops and $2.1 billion from livestock and poultry.
But the foundation of that economy is now at risk.
One particularly frustrating part of the current crisis is our trade relationship with China.
While I support President Trump’s efforts to fix these long-held trade disparities and put America first, we must be realistic about China’s strategy.
So far this year, China has not purchased a single crop from Tennessee growers. They are using our producers as pawns in broader trade disputes and our farmers are paying the price.
Despite these challenges, Tennessee farmers continue to do what they do best—work hard each day to feed, clothe and fuel our nation. But they can’t do it alone.
We are dangerously close to losing an entire generation of family farms. Not because they didn’t work hard enough or innovate fast enough, but because the math simply doesn’t add up.
That’s why I’m calling on our national leaders to step up and support Tennessee’s farmers, not just with words, but with action.
During President Trump’s first term, we saw meaningful assistance that helped farmers withstand trade disputes and other disruptions. We need the same level of support now, before it’s too late.
Food security is national security. If we allow our agricultural base to collapse, we’re not just losing an industry, we’re weakening the backbone of America.
We must act now if we want to keep farmers in business beyond 2026.