America's Farmers Are Facing One of Their Toughest Seasons in Years

"Compared to my grandfather, I'm not a farmer."

That's how Josh Manske, a corn and soybean grower from Algona, Iowa, describes the gap between farming then and now. His grandfather raised 800 head of livestock and worked hundreds of acres — and that was enough to support a family of five. Today, Mr. Manske runs a farm drainage operation, sells real estate, and grows crops just to make ends meet.

"That is not the [agricultural world] that we, for the most part, live in anymore," he says.

And soon, even that may not be enough. Across America's farming communities, growers say they're facing the worst economic outlook in years, caught in a squeeze between soaring operating costs and falling commodity prices. Many describe the last few years as feeling like a quiet recession — one that the broader public rarely sees.

"Where's the light at the end of this tunnel?" Mr. Manske asks.

A Perfect Storm

Farmers have always lived with uncertainty. Weather, markets, equipment failures — these come with the territory. But many growers say what they're experiencing now feels qualitatively different: multiple pressures hitting at once, with no clear timeline for relief.

"Our farmers are reporting that their farms are on the brink of a crisis," says Aaron Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, which represents primarily small- and medium-sized commodity producers. The challenges have been building for years, he says. But they're "hitting high points now."

Fuel and fertilizer prices have spiked sharply, driven in part by instability in global oil markets due to the conflict in Iran. At the same time, tariffs have hammered demand for key crops — soybeans, corn, and ethanol among them — leaving farmers getting less for their product at the exact moment it costs more to produce it.

Bob Hemesath, who raises hogs and grows corn and soybeans on his farm in Decorah, Iowa, is watching costs compound in real time. "We need certainty of markets. We need access to more markets," he says.

The Math Doesn't Add Up

The economic pressure shows up in how farmers are making decisions — cautiously, defensively, with one eye on worst-case scenarios.

Mr. Manske recently bought fertilizer for a crop that won't be harvested until next fall and might not be sold until the spring after that. He has no way of knowing what the market will look like by then.

"Just give us some stability," he says.

John Crespi, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, explains that uncertainty itself has a cost. "What does the uncertainty do? It makes farmers go, 'Maybe I pull back a little bit, or maybe I don't buy as much fertilizer this year,'" he says. "That has ripple effects throughout the whole farm economy."

Those ripple effects spread beyond the farm gate. Agricultural manufacturing — the equipment dealers, co-ops, and processors that support rural communities — feels the pullback too. When farmers tighten their belts, whole towns feel it.

Farming Was Never Easy — But This Feels Different

What makes the current moment particularly hard for many growers to navigate is the combination of factors beyond their control. Commodity prices cycle. Weather is unpredictable. But when disrupted trade relationships, spiking input costs, and stalled federal support legislation hit simultaneously, the margin for error disappears.

Aaron Lehman is watching costs that "have exploded" since agricultural support legislation was last renewed — now years overdue — while emergency aid for farmers also sits in legislative limbo.

"Farmers end up being on the front lines of this," says Professor Crespi.

For the people doing the work — rising before dawn, managing machines, watching the sky, hauling grain — this is urgent.