WASHINGTON D.C. — More support is being extended to farmers to help them get through what continues to be an extremely difficult economic period in U.S. agriculture.

 

The National Farmers Union (NFU) and Farmers Union state branches on May 16 launched a new online resource service known as the Farm Crisis Center.

Its function is to provide information and services needed to help farmers get through financial and personal emergencies during this prolonged economic downturn in agriculture that the organization says is getting worse.

NFU President Roger Johnson said there’s no foreseeable end right now to what he calls a “farm crisis” and the resources available online can help families keep their farms and stay together until economic conditions start bouncing back.

“Net farm income has been cut in half over the past four years and other indicators point to intense, ongoing stress within our rural communities. Farmers, ranchers and their communities are bracing for very hard times, and Farmers Union is going to be there to help them through it,” he said.

Farmers can go to https://farmcrisis. nfu.org to receive help on topics including financial counseling and business planning, legal help, mediation services, marketing assistance, what grants might be available for direct financial assistance, how to save on energy costs and strategies for breaking into new markets. To provide emotional support, there’s also the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. That number is 800-273-TALK (8255).

The NFU plans to raise awareness on the ongoing struggles in agriculture all the way up to Congress to try to generate responses that can be of assistance to farmers.

“The farm crisis needs to be front and center of every major farm and rural discussion occurring amongst policymakers and the national media,” said Johnson, who encouraged farmers to take part in  listening sessions and share their stories on the Farm Crisis Center, “so we can be your voice in Washington.”

“The plight of rural and farming communities must be addressed for the betterment of the entire country.”

Chris Hurt, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, agreed with the NFU, saying the farm economy is the worst since the early to mid-1980s and still weakening. Farmers have cut back on their operating expenses the past couple of years to help weather the storm – but costs can only be reduced so much before red ink during a prolonged downturn starts to permanently settle in.

 

“The costs of production are not being covered for quite a few farms, and the prospects are this will continue on through 2017 and probably into 2018,” said Hurt, who estimated 4-6 percent of farms are currently in that predicament.

Right now, he did say economic conditions are not nearly as bad as they were more than 30 years ago and he doesn’t expect things to get close to reaching that point.

 

For example, land values plummeted by slightly more than half back then, while this time the worth of farm ground shouldn’t dip by more than 25 percent.

Last year, land values had already gone down from 12-14 percent and exactly where they are right now will be updated, starting in June. But, “at least half or maybe more than one-half of the downward adjustment has already occurred,” said Hurt.

Overproduction and stockpiled supplies in recent years worldwide has much to do with grain prices remaining low, and staying afloat becoming more challenging. He said either consumption has to go up or production down, for profits to start rising again.

High yields coming out of a previous downturn meant larger profits and more farmers having money to purchase irrigation systems and other technology to increase yields even further. So, it might be tougher to lower production unless weather in a major producing nation changes enough to work against a record harvest, he explained.

“All of these things are contributing to keeping our production above what our total usage is, and that imbalance takes time to work through,” said Hurt.