Farm bankruptcies grew 55 percent from 2023 to 2024 and are trending even higher in 2025. Farmers are continuing to struggle with low prices for their agricultural commodities and the high costs of inputs needed to grow those crops.
Bloomberg says unpredictable tariffs, immigration overhauls, federal programs being cut, and frozen USDA funding are now part of the challenges farmers face as they look for financial assistance. The Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago says the share of the district’s farm loan portfolio assessed as having “major or severe” repayment problems was 4.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, the highest point it reached since late in 2020.
The Kansas City Fed said at the end of March that as farm debt grew and conditions in the farm economy deteriorated, delinquency rates increased modestly from historic lows. The American Farmland Owner says Iowa leads all other states with 12 bankruptcies this year.
