Farm Here to Eternity

 

    Major creditors in agriculture the giant, Hansen-Mueller, bankruptcy

Farm Here to Eternity

When the United States of America issued its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies-about-to-become states were mostly agricultural. ”In Colonial America, agriculture was the primary livelihood for 90% of the population, and most towns were shipping points for the export of agricultural products. Most farms were geared toward subsistence production for family use. The rapid growth of population and the expansion of the frontier opened up large numbers of new farms, and clearing the land was a major preoccupation of farmers.” Wikipedia

Inasmuch as farming defined the nascent republic, even so much as to create the basis for congressional representation (why red-blue maps are so visually red), those working in that “field” has steadily declined ever since. Yet, even today, the agriculture industry generates more than $9.5 trillion in economic value, which amounts to 18.7% of the overall national economy, and exports nearly $183 billion in food and agriculture products. Productivity has exploded US agricultural output, and yet less than 2% of the US labor force is engaged in farming, with about 42% (at least before the deportation effort) of that number coming from low-wage, undocumented workers.

Farm states, farmers and those whose livelihoods are generated from that industry are, for the most part, politically conservative. As farmers often live far away from their neighbors, rural social life is often built around the local churches. As much as GPS tracking and modern technology have restructured modern farming, depending on nature for rain and appropriate weather have only served to amplify hope and prayer, religiosity if you will, in rural life. I wanted to start this blog with some preliminary notes on who American farmers are and how import their contributions are to our economy, our very image of who we are as Americans.

But those salt of the earth American farmers – ok including some of those mega-industrial farms too – those bastions of the Republican Party… have been betrayed by the Trump administration, the very government they voted for… in ways likely to change our country forever. No matter how those policies may be voided by the courts or repealed by subsequent administrations, the damage to a vast pool of American farmers just may be irreversible.

It started with Donald Trump’s false assumptions about the workings and values of tariffs. As his seemingly insatiable and vacillating need to impose massive tariffs on a global basis exploded, not only did nations impacted by those tariffs – and no, nations do not pay tariffs, but their exporting citizens may watch such tariffs decimate their traditional overseas markets – retaliated with reciprocal tariffs against US goods, their domestic importers resourced vast pools of traditional US imports with comparable products from other countries.

China has been a long-time importer of US agricultural products, but when slapped by a huge American duty on their exports to the US, China abruptly shifted its agricultural purchase orders to other nations… completely substituting the need to buy American. Brazil and Argentina were immediate beneficiaries. Grain farmers have particularly been hit by these trade disruptions, noting that the US farms that bore the brunt of such Chinese retribution grew soya beans. In 2024, China accounted for 54% of our exports of those beans. So, the bumbling Trump administration is offering farmers who lost traditional sales by reason of these new tariffs, is offering taxpayer payments to them of $12 billion… even when the direct and immediate loss, without considering the expected future losses, was much closer to $35 billion.

What sure looked like pouring salt into those US agricultural wounds – shoring up a rightwing Argentinian government facing a currency crisis with tens of billions of Trump-ordered US dollars – made a whole lot of US farmers seethe with anger. “The farming community has been hit by Trump’s trade war with China in both of his presidential terms. During the first Trump administration $23 billion was paid out to help farmers affected by simmering tensions between Washington and Beijing, according to Reuters. In 2025, farmers are expected to receive $40 billion in economic and disaster aid… Earlier this year China agreed to buy at least 12 million metric tons of US soya beans however it remains to be seen if it fully complies.

“Farmers are set to meet with their bankers for loans to buy seed, fertilizer and other inputs for spring planting [starting in the new year]. Many farmers are likely to carry over debt from operating loans taken out last year, they fear. Agricultural credit conditions have declined for crop farmers, according to the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. Weaker farm income has reduced liquidity and increased demand for financing… Farmers may seek to plant more soya beans in 2026, even though export demand for that crop is lower, and it’s less profitable than corn, according to Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX.

“Farm bankruptcies are likely to top 1,000 this year, with Arkansas hit harder than any other state. That would be well above the 2019 peak of 599 filings but far below the high point of nearly 6,000 bankruptcies in 1987 during the 1980s farm crisis. While farmers are under financial stress, Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX, said he does not expect a repeat of that crisis… The outlook for the farm economy is pessimistic heading into 2026, Suderman said, but conditions could change dramatically if China resumes purchases of U.S. agricultural exports and the Environmental Protection Agency pushes for more domestic biofuel production.” Somaiyah Hafeez for the December 22nd RawStory/The Mirror US.

Fertilizer, farm equipment (even US-made given tariff-driven increase in aluminum and steel) and other farming necessities have soared in price, just as global demand has fallen. One particular bankruptcy, joining many others for the reasons noted above, illustrates the bankruptcy ripple effect:

“Farmers across the Midwest and South faced a sudden financial crisis in late October when payments for their harvested grain failed to arrive. From Nebraska to Texas, producers who had delivered crops to a major grain buyer [half-billion-dollar valued Hansen-Mueller] found themselves waiting for checks that never came. Phone calls to the company went unanswered, and as days passed, concern turned to alarm. By early November, the scale of the problem became clear: thousands of farmers and agribusinesses were owed millions, with no explanation in sight.” PennyGem, December 24th. Many farmers expecting those payments, along with some major companies as denoted above, were devastated. Many filed resulting bankruptcies as well.

According to the Red River Farm Network (December 22nd): “The sale of assets from the Hansen-Mueller bankruptcy [was finalized on December 22nd] in Nebraska. Kansas-based Redwood Group has been selected as a successful bidder on spring wheat and oat contracts in Grand Forks; a facility lease and oat contracts in Superior and Duluth and oat contracts in Sioux City. Redwood Group won the bid on business in Kansas City and Houston and railcar leases. North Dakota-based Paterson Grain has the winning bid on a facility lease and oat and barley contracts in Toledo, Ohio. A wheat facility in Sioux City and wheat contracts in Council Bluffs and Kansas City went to West Plains LLC. Hansen-Mueller filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month after failing to pay farmers for grain deliveries.” Trump may have destroyed farming livelihoods for thousands of American farmers, but somehow, he continues to have support from that group… so far.

I’m Peter Dekom, and fabricating or distorting economic statistics to parade failed economic policies… finally… is convincing millions of Americans who voted for Donald Trump that they made a big mistake… but will they remember for the midterms… if there are any?