American farmers “are facing extreme economic pressures that threaten the long-term viability of the U.S. agriculture sector,” 56 agriculture organizations told congressional leaders in a Jan. 15 letter. California Citrus Mutual, Florida Citrus Mutual and Texas Citrus Mutual were among the letter’s signers. The letter went to the U.S. Senate majority and minority leaders and the House of Representatives speaker and minority leader.
“An alarming number of farmers are financially underwater, farm bankruptcies continue to climb, and many farmers may have difficulty securing financing to grow their next crop,” the letter states. “For the last three to four years the reality of record-high input costs and rapidly declining and historically low crop and specialty crop prices have culminated in many U.S. farmers experiencing negative margins and losses … At the same time, a widening U.S. agricultural trade deficit and falling American shares of global sales reflect growing competitive pressures in global markets. These difficulties were further aggravated by failure to enforce trade commitments made by China as well as persistent non-tariff barriers around the world.”
The letter, organized by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), acknowledges significant investments over the past year in farm programs, a bridge assistance program and other aid to support farmers. It also notes that losses for commodity crops and specialty crops remain deep, and the gap needs to be closed.
“In addition to continuing to pursue federal policies to increase long-term domestic demand for U.S agricultural commodities, we urge Congress to provide immediate economic support to fill in the gap of remaining losses for both field and specialty crop farmers,” the letter states. “Additional support will stabilize the farm economy, protect rural communities and ensure a secure food supply. This support must be robust enough to fill in sector-wide gaps.”
Read the full letter here.
Source: AFBF
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