Sen. Chuck Grassley addressed his colleagues on the Senate floor yesterday (Monday) to draw attention to the economic challenges farmers face in Iowa and across the nation.
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According to Grassley, the average production costs for farmers are down just three percent from the record highs set in 2022, while corn prices are down nearly 50 percent over that same time period. Grassley says these trends should be of tremendous concern for Congress.
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He adds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a memorandum of understanding between the agencies to address agricultural anti-trust complaints. However, Grassley says the pattern is beginning to resemble the Farm Crisis of the 1980s.
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The latter half of the 1980s saw some of the most significant agriculture policy overhauls the nation has ever seen. Some notable examples include the 1985 Food Security Act, which introduced the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and adjusted commodity price supports; the creation of Chapter 12 bankruptcy for family farmers to better avoid asset liquidation; and the 1987 Agricultural Credit Act, which stabilized the Farm Credit System (FCS).