Campaign Action
The rate of bankruptcies among farms is rising steeply in the upper Midwest due to falling revenues from corn, soybeans, milk, and other products. Over the last 12 months ending in June, 84 farms have declared bankruptcy in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, more than doubling the number of bankruptcies over the same stretch in 2013/2014, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Additionally, the outlook moving forward doesn't look good. Some farm exports actually spiked in the second quarter in the race to beat the implementation of China's retaliatory tariffs. Soybean sales, for instance, have now "slowed to a crawl," according the Star Tribune. Given the price drops on the products since June, Minneapolis Fed analyst Ron Wirtz tells the AP, "The trajectory of the current trends suggest that this trend has not yet seen a peak.”
Analysts told the AP that many farmers were already producing beyond demand before the trade war with China escalated. Trump's tariffs have exacerbated what was already a looming problem.
“Grain farmers have had low prices for the past three years but high yields have helped them through. We’re just waiting for a turnaround," said Mark Miedtke, the president of Citizens State Bank in Hayfield. "We’re waiting for the tariff problem to go away.”