Fighting Against All Odds

Tennessee farmers battle an economic crisis like none other

As combines and pickers across the state made their way into crop fields this fall, the joy and excitement normally felt during harvest season wasn't quite there. That's because farmers are being faced with what everyone would agree is a perfect storm.

"Year after year over my farming career, if we had excellent yields, the prices would suffer. On the flip side, if we had yields that were not so good, the prices usually would pick up where we could sell for a profit," said Jeff Hill, row crop farmer in Haywood and Lauderdale counties. "This year, I don't see the price for any of our commodities rallying and our yields, especially in West Tennessee where we've been in a drought, are suffering dramatically."

The reason those yields are suffering so much is because of an ongoing drought, but even more so, it has to do with the unusual spring farmers faced which put them in a difficult position to plant.

"We had to replant all of our corn, cotton and beans," said Ricky Chandler, Carroll County row crop farmer. "And then we had an extremely wet May and June, and then of course, first of July when it quit, it quit."

Farming in the neighboring county of Gibson County, row crop and poultry farmer Todd Littleton also struggled with an extremely wet spring and knew given his 20 years of farming that wasn't going to be good come July.

"We generally average 50 inches of rain a year here and we got 40 of those before the end of May. So, statistically speaking, we knew it could turn off to be a dry summer and it did," said Littleton. "As a result, the yields have been somewhat disappointing this fall and then when you're sitting there knowing the yields aren't great and there's also not a great price, it puts a lot of added stress on the fall season to try to squeeze out a profit wherever we can, and it makes it tough."

Chandler adds, "Everything is extremely cheap. There's no money to be made, and then you throw in the adverse conditions to where we have a below average crop, it's a lose lose situation. I hate to say that, but that's what we're facing."

The part that takes it from being tough as Littleton said to being downright dire is the fact that farmers haven't been up against the battle of low yields and low prices this year alone, it's a battle they've been facing for a handful of years now.

"This is not just a one dry summer deal," said Littleton. "This is a culmination of the last four years or so. We've had low commodity prices and inflation has drove up our input costs dramatically. All these crops in the field, our bushels pay for those inputs and when your inputs are way more than you have bushels, you've got a problem."

After spending basically his entire life farming, Hill is also seeing the problem. And unfortunately, as he hangs his hat up and officially passes the farm onto the next generation at the end of the calendar year, he is frustrated at how out of balance the markets seem to be.

"It seems like everything has increased in price dramatically since COVID, except the prices of our commodities," said Hill. "Our inputs have gone up, our equipment has gone up, land rent has gone up…I've sold cotton in my career higher most years than this year, but my chemical and my seed and my fertilizer and my equipment prices have never been this high."

Hill lived through the hard times of farming through the 80s, but he thinks this crisis could top the detriment to the industry seen during that downturn. Littleton couldn't agree more.

"We borrow so much more money now than they did in the 80s," said Littleton. "Interest rates were terribly high in the 80s, but we're borrowing five and six-fold the amount of money they did, so really, it's an even worse situation."

Another factor making it an even worse situation is the current state of global markets. Obviously over the course of the past several months, tariffs have been put in place to try to address unfair trade practices with American products, which farmers agree with, but unfortunately, it's only adding to the hardship right now.

"There is no doubt about it - the U.S. has been taken advantage of across the world in some of our trade negotiations and our government is using tariffs to try to level that playing," said Littleton. "We all understand that, and we agree with it, but it's also detrimental to our markets right now."

No doubt, if you talk to a farmer, they'd all agree inputs are the most detrimental villain right now when it comes to the balance sheet. And there's clear evidence as to why.

"The other day I was riding through the field and on our combine screen it shows how much fuel we're burning per hour to harvest," said Littleton. "At that day's market price for soybeans and what we just paid for a tanker load of diesel; it was taking 7-bushel of beans to pay for just the fuel in the combine. That's just the fuel to make the engine run. So, when you're only producing 40-bushel beans and it's taking seven of that just for diesel, that doesn't leave much for everything else. We cannot make enough bushels to make a profit at the price levels we're at today."

Research from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture also backs this up, predicting in 2025 Tennessee corn, cotton, soybean and wheat producers are projected to have a farm level net loss of over $430 million - up $132 million from 2024.

"Most farms around me are from 2,000-4,000 acres. So, let's just say a 3,000-acre farm - if he loses $100 an acre, which is what they are projecting, that's $300,000 at the end of the year that he's got to come up with just to farm again," said Littleton. "So, you basically have borrowed money to work all year."

Littleton warns of what this reality could mean not just to the agricultural industry, but all who rely on the American farmer.

"We can't keep doing what we're doing. There won't be enough farmers left," said Littleton. "There's only 2% of us in the country now, so when we lose another big portion of that, there's not going to be enough people to feed us. I don't think people realize that, but it is not sustainable. At the end of the day, we love what we do, but we've got to feed our families in the process."

So, the question is… what can be done for farmers to win this battle? The short-term answer might be help from the government, but don't be mistaken, that is the last thing farmers truly want.

"We don't want help from the government, but we've got to have it if we're going to stay in business, especially until the trade deals are settled out," said Littleton. "We don't want to make our living at the mailbox, we want it out in the rows, but we're going to have to have some help soon."

Hill adds, "No farmer wants subsidies. We just want a fair price for our crop, and we want a level playing field with Brazil, Argentina, China, Mexico and whoever else we're competing against."

Long-term, Littleton believes addressing inputs is a must. He says, "We are spending more to do this than the prior two or three generations all put together because our costs are so high, and that's what has got to be addressed. I think if something isn't done, there's going to be several multigenerational farms that go out of business."

While that reality is quite scary, many farmers are fighting to ensure that doesn't happen to them. Chandler says, "This year is not good, but you know, we'll hope for the best. If you're a farmer, you've got to be optimistic and that's exactly what we're trying to do."

That and trusting in the good Lord to see this battle through.

"We're planting wheat behind these crops right now, knowing that maybe things will get better over the course of the winter," said Littleton. "I think the Lord gives us those green plants during the doom and gloom of the winter to remind us that spring is coming, and things will be better. They must get better; we don't have a choice. But I have full faith that they will. The Lord has always taken care of us, and He will again - we just have to be patient and see it through."