By: Cami Koons
The American Farm Bureau Federation, along with soybean and specialty crop farm organizations, has asked congressional leadership for economic support to “fill in the gap of remaining losses for both field and specialty crop farmers.”
The letter follows a December announcement from the Trump administration of a $12 billion one-time package to offset farmer losses across the country.
“These funds could provide a meaningful first step but do not cover the extensive and cumulative losses that farmers have absorbed over the last several years,” the letter said after acknowledging the farmer bridge payment program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is allocating the funding with commodity specific payment rates and set aside $1 billion of the $12 billion for specialty crop farmers.
The American Soybean Association, a signee on the recently submitted letter, said in a news release the $30.88 per acre allotted for soybeans from the payment package was not enough to cover the “significant financial damage soybean farmers sustained this year due to the high cost of production and losses sustained during the China trade war.”
Grant Kimberley, Iowa Soybean Association’s director of market development, said the additional need from farmers is “complicated” and is a result of more than just one event in the past year.
“I think people don’t really realize this has been going on for a couple years now,” Kimberley said. “… Just about every row crop agriculture sector in the whole country has been losing money, probably, for the last three years.”
Kimberley said the ongoing downturn in the industry is due to several factors, including low commodity prices, high input costs, changes in global trade and uncertainty in domestic markets.
Data from Farm Bureau show that commodity prices for major row crops like corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat have declined each year since 2022.
Kimberley said as the prices that farmers can get for their crops has declined, expenses have not declined, and have instead increased. Land, rent, equipment and inputs like fertilizer, seed and chemicals continue to squeeze farmers’ bottom lines, he said.
Farm Bureau economists found that farm expenses in 2025 were 12% higher than the previous five-year average cost.
Another piece to the puzzle, Kimberley explained, is the growing soybean and row crop markets in Brazil and other South American countries. He said the expansion of these markets has interrupted U.S. demand, especially with big buyers like China.
China also declined to purchase U.S. soybeans for the beginning part of harvest season due to President Donald Trump’s trade policies. While the country later agreed to a trade deal, Kimberley said it’s less than what the country previously bought from the U.S. and the gap in purchasing this year has also had an effect.
Kimberley also pointed to the lack of finalized guidance from federal agencies on renewable fuel standards and tax credits. Many of these initiatives, like 45Z tax credits for low-carbon fuel, were initiated during the Biden administration and still do not have finalized guidelines.
Other standards, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s blending standards, were proposed over the summer and have yet to be finalized. Kimberley, who is also executive director of the Iowa Biodiesel Board, said this uncertainty means overall biodiesel production has declined in the state, causing a “ripple in the pond” for soybean demand.
“You can’t really just say it’s this or that, you know, it’s all of these things that have kind of added up a little bit over time,” Kimberley said.
The letter from American Farm Bureau Federation also noted the compounding factors squeezing farmers. According to the letter, farmer bankruptcies are increasing and nationwide farmer losses are approaching $100 billion.
“These trends aren’t just statistics; they represent an economic crisis in rural America,” the letter said.
Specialty crop farmers are also struggling under similar pressures and asked Congress for relief.
The majority of the more than 50 organizations that signed the letter represented specialty crop growers.
In a news release about the letter, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance said that despite the fact that specialty crops account for more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales, the farmer bridge program from USDA allocated just $1 billion to the industry.
“Any agricultural aid package should reflect the economic contribution of specialty crops, which support rural communities and provide key nutrition,” the alliance leadership said in the release.
The letter, addressed to House and Senate leadership, ask for “immediate” congressionally approved support.
Kimberley said additional changes need to occur in the farm economy for farmers to be profitable, but those changes won’t happen overnight.
“None of these things make farmers whole, and (aid packages) are not preferred, but sometimes they’re necessary,” Kimberley said.
This story was originally produced by Iowa Capital Dispatch, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Kansas Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.