Precious Seed Company

04/04/2026

Onion farmers in Ghana's North East Region are reportedly struggling to find buyers for their produce, facing potential losses after harvesting their crops.

04/04/2026

At this time of year in Australia’s Gulf Country, as the six-month wet season ends and the deserted stretches of roads reopen after the floods, the farmers who run vast cattle stations pick up the phone and book in tankers to refill their emptying stores of diesel.

04/04/2026

“That type of money is tempting because that's life-changing finances, but you also have to look at the responsibility of what you leave behind in your legacy,” explained Jeremy Hayes, whose family has lived on the same Mt. Juliet property for generations.

04/04/2026

Farmers are facing a perfect storm of unpredictable markets, climbing fuel prices, and forces far beyond their control, as many Americans feel the pinch of rising costs.

03/26/2026

THE BIGGER PICTURE: WHY THE LOSS OF AMERICAN FAMILY FARMS IS A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE

Food security and national security are the same issue — we just rarely talk about them that way.

The United States currently produces enough food.

Shelves are stocked, exports are robust, and by any headline metric the American food system appears healthy.

So why should we care that 177,000 farms have disappeared since 2017?

Why does it matter that we are at our lowest farm count since before the Civil War?

Because resilience and volume are not the same thing.

- THE REDUNDANCY ARGUMENT

A diverse agricultural system — hundreds of thousands of independent operators across varied geographies, scales, and practices — provides natural resilience.

When one region experiences drought, others compensate.

When one crop is hit by disease, farmers growing other crops absorb the economic shock.

When supply chains are disrupted, the redundancy of many independent producers provides buffers that a consolidated system cannot.

A highly concentrated agricultural system — dominated by a smaller number of very large operations, fewer commodity varieties, tighter supply chains, and more single-point vulnerabilities — is structurally more brittle.

A single drought, a pathogen outbreak, a logistics disruption, or a geopolitical event hits harder when there are 1.86 million farms than when there were 6 million.

We are quietly dismantling the redundancy that took generations to build.

THE OWNERSHIP CONCENTRATION PROBLEM

When a family farm is sold to an institutional investor, something subtle but important changes.

The land continues to produce food — but it does so under different incentive structures.

A family farmer has a multi-generational relationship with the land.

Soil health, water conservation, crop rotation, and long-term productivity are in their direct economic interest because they plan to farm that land for the rest of their lives and pass it to their children.

An institutional investor has a quarterly earnings cycle and a fiduciary obligation to maximize returns for shareholders or pension beneficiaries.

These are not the same incentive structures, and they produce different land management decisions over time.

The majority of rented US farmland is now owned by non-farming landlords.

This shift has happened largely within one decade. Its long-term implications for soil health, land stewardship, and agricultural resilience have barely been studied.

THE RURAL COMMUNITY COLLAPSE

Farm loss and rural community decline are not separate phenomena — they are the same phenomenon. USDA research directly links agricultural consolidation to increased rural poverty, reduced civic participation, declining school enrollment, the closure of local businesses, and deteriorating mental health outcomes.

When a farm closes, the family often leaves. When families leave, the school district shrinks.

When the school shrinks, young families stop moving in.

When young families stop coming, the local hardware store, the grain elevator, the diner, the church — all face their own viability crises.

Rural America is not just losing farms.

It is losing the communities that grew up around them.

THE MENTAL HEALTH DIMENSION

Farm su***de rates are among the highest of any occupational category in the United States.

This statistic has persisted across boom years and bust years, across commodity price spikes and crashes.

The isolation of rural farming life, the financial stress of thin margins and unpredictable weather, the cultural weight of potentially being the generation that loses land that has been in a family for a century — these are not abstract stressors. They manifest in real human suffering.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SILENCE

The 1980s farm crisis had national visibility. Farm Aid concerts filled stadiums.

Congressional hearings made front pages.

Willie Nelson and Neil Young became unexpected political figures.

The crisis had faces, voices, and cultural resonance.

The current farm erosion is slower, quieter, and more diffuse.

In years when commodity prices are high, farm income numbers look fine — masking the structural deterioration beneath.

By the time the crisis becomes undeniable, the land, the community infrastructure, and the generational knowledge will already be gone.

That is perhaps the most alarming dimension of all: this crisis is happening in plain sight, documented by federal agencies and agricultural economists, and it is generating almost no national conversation proportional to its magnitude.

Sources: USDA Economic Research Service, USDA NASS, American Farm Bureau Federation, US Courts, NIFC, National Rural Health Association

03/26/2026

AMERICA HAS LOST 177,000 FARMS SINCE 2017 — AND WE ARE AT THE LOWEST FARM COUNT SINCE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

This is perhaps the most important agricultural statistic in America right now, and it receives almost no national attention.

The United States Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years. It is the most comprehensive count of American farms and farmers that exists.

Here is what it has found, combined with USDA annual survey data:

• 2017 Census: 2,042,220 farms

• 2022 Census: 1,900,487 farms (a loss of 141,733 — the largest 5-year decline in percentage terms in over 20 years)

• 2024 USDA Annual Survey: approximately 1,880,000 farms

• 2025 USDA Annual Survey: approximately 1,865,000 farms

Net loss since 2017: approximately 177,000 farms.

That number — 1.865 million — is the lowest farm count in the United States since before the Civil War.

The USDA has been tracking farm numbers since 1840.

We have never, in the modern era, had fewer farms than we do right now.

For context: the United States had approximately 6 million farms at its peak in the 1940s.

We have lost more than two-thirds of American farms over the past 80 years. But the current rate of decline is accelerating, not slowing.

THE SILENT CLOSURES

These 177,000 lost farms did not all file bankruptcy. In fact, the vast majority did not.

Over the same period, Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy filings totaled roughly 2,600 — meaning formal bankruptcy accounts for about 1.5% of all farm exits.

The other 98.5% were silent closures: farms sold to neighboring operations, absorbed by corporate consolidators, purchased by institutional investors, or simply abandoned as aging operators retired with no heirs willing or able to take over.

This is the "iceberg effect" of American farm loss.

The 315 bankruptcies in 2025 are the visible tip.

The estimated 15,000–20,000 silent closures in the same year are the mass below the waterline.

THE LAND ISN'T GONE — BUT THE FARMERS ARE

Here is what makes this crisis structurally different from the 1980s farm crisis or the Dust Bowl era: the land is not lying idle.

It is being absorbed.

When a family farm exits today, its land typically goes to one of four destinations:

1. A neighboring larger farm that expands its acreage

2. A corporate farming operation

3. An institutional investor (REIT, private equity, pension fund) that holds the land as a financial asset and leases it back to operators

4. A non-farming landlord who rents the land to a tenant farmer
The USDA's 2024 Tenure, Ownership and Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) survey confirmed that the majority of rented US farmland — 347.8 million acres — is now owned by non-farming landlords.

The people who grow the food no longer own the land they grow it on.

This is a profound structural shift. It has happened largely within a single decade. And it is accelerating.

THE ENTRY BARRIER IS BREAKING

New farmers are entering the system, but not at the rate needed to replace what is being lost.

USDA data shows that beginning producers (those with 10 or fewer years of experience) grew 11% from 2017 to 2022, and now represent 30% of all producers.

But look beneath the headline:

• The average beginning farmer is 47.1 years old — not a young person entering agriculture, but often someone taking over a family operation or starting a second-career hobby farm

• 58% of beginning farmers report farming is NOT their primary occupation

• Young producers under age 35 represent only 9% of all producers

• Average US farmland has increased 43% in value since 2017, to approximately $4,400 per acre — making first-generation entry prohibitively expensive

The new farmers entering the system are largely part-time operators and career changers.

The farms being lost are predominantly full-time, multigenerational, commercially productive operations.

The replacement is not equivalent.

IN 2025, NO STATE IN AMERICA SAW A NET GAIN IN FARM NUMBERS.

Not one.

Texas alone lost 2,000 farm operations in a single year.

The erosion is nationwide, relentless, and structurally embedded in economics, land prices, and demographics.

WHERE THIS IS HEADING

If current trends continue, the United States could fall below 1.8 million farms before the 2027 USDA annual survey — and below 1.5 million within 15 years.

At that point, the independent American farm — the multigenerational, privately owned, non-corporate family operation — would represent a minority of agricultural production by any meaningful measure.

This is not alarmism.

This is where the trend lines point.

Sources: USDA NASS Census of Agriculture (2017, 2022), USDA Annual Land in Farms surveys (2023–2025), USDA TOTAL Survey (2024), American Farm Bureau Federation, USDA Economic Research Service

03/26/2026

315 FAMILY FARM BANKRUPTCIES IN 2025 — AND THAT'S JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

Chapter 12 of the US Bankruptcy Code was created specifically for family farmers.

It allows farm operators to reorganize their debts and continue farming, rather than being forced into full liquidation.

It is the legal mechanism that stands between a struggling farm family and losing everything.

Here is how Chapter 12 filings have moved since 2017:

• 2017: ~599 filings (a modern-era high)

• 2018: ~535 filings

• 2019: 599 filings (matched the high)

• 2020: 552 filings

• 2021: 276 filings (dropped 50% — stimulus effect)

• 2022: approximately 170 filings (record low)

• 2023: 139 filings (new all-time record low)

• 2024: 216 filings (up 55%)

• 2025: 315 filings (up 46%)

The four-year decline from 2020–2023 was real, but it was largely artificial. Three factors drove it:

1. Pandemic-era stimulus that injected cash directly into farm incomes,

2. A post-COVID commodity price spike that temporarily boosted farm revenues, and

3. Widespread debt deferral programs that delayed payment obligations.

By 2023–2024, all three tailwinds had reversed simultaneously.

- Stimulus ended.

- Commodity prices normalized.

- Deferred debt came due.

The surge in 2024 and 2025 was not a surprise to agricultural economists — it was anticipated the moment the stimulus programs expired.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF 2025 FARM BANKRUPTCIES

The 2025 filings were heavily concentrated in the nation's two most productive farming regions:

• Midwest: 121 Chapter 12 filings

• Southeast: 105 filings

• Arkansas alone: 33 filings — the most in the state's recorded history this century

• Georgia: 27 filings

• Iowa: 18 filings

These are not marginal farming communities.

The Midwest and Southeast are the backbone of American food production.

Corn, soybeans, cotton, poultry, swine, cattle — the staples of the American food supply are grown in the states leading these bankruptcy totals.

THE DEBT PICTURE FOR 2026

Total US farm debt is projected to reach $624.7 billion in 2026 — a 5.2% increase from 2025 levels.

Annual farm interest expenses are expected to reach $33 billion. In 2025, farmers opened 40% more new operating loans than the prior year, with average loan sizes up 30%.

Farmers are not borrowing because they are thriving.

They are borrowing to bridge the gap between what they earn and what it costs to continue operating.

THE ICEBERG BELOW THE SURFACE:

Chapter 12 filings, as significant as they are, represent only a fraction of farm exits.

Analysis of USDA data reveals that for every farm that formally files bankruptcy, approximately 68 others simply close, sell, or consolidate without any court proceeding.

The machinery is auctioned.

The land is sold to a neighbor or to an institutional buyer.

The farmhouse sits empty or is rented out.

And a multi-generational family farm quietly disappears — with no headline, no filing, and no public record.

The 315 bankruptcies in 2025 are visible.

The estimated 20,000+ silent closures in the same year are not.

Sources: US Courts, USDA Farm Service Agency, American Farm Bureau Federation, USDA Economic Research Service

03/25/2026

AMERICAN FARMERS LOST $77 BILLION IN CROPS TO NATURAL DISASTERS FROM 2021 TO 2024 — AND $30 BILLION WAS NEVER RECOVERED

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has tracked crop losses due to natural disasters since 2021. What they have found is deeply troubling — not just in the scale of losses, but in the persistent gap between what is lost and what is compensated.

Here are the confirmed annual totals:

2021: $12.5 billion+ in crop and rangeland losses

2022: $21.4 billion in total crop losses (approximately $11 billion covered by programs; $10.4 billion uncovered)

2023: approximately $22 billion in total crop losses ($12.1 billion covered; $9.9 billion uncovered)

2024: estimated $21 billion+ in total crop losses ($11.6 billion covered; $9.4 billion uncovered)

Four-year total: approximately $77 billion lost.

Four-year uncovered gap: approximately $35 billion — losses that fell entirely outside the reach of crop insurance and federal disaster aid.

THE BREAKDOWN OF 2024 LOSSES

To make these numbers more concrete, here is what the 2024 crop loss data looked like by commodity:

• Corn: $3.85 billion

• Forage and rangeland (drought-driven): $3.8 billion

• Soybeans: $3.2 billion

• Cotton: $2.5 billion

• Other crops: remainder of $21B+ total

Every major commodity. Every major growing region.

The losses were not concentrated in one place or one crop — they were broad, deep, and persistent.

WHY IS THE UNCOVERED GAP SO LARGE?

Three main reasons:

1. Insurance gaps: Federal crop insurance policies exclude certain perils, have coverage limits that don't reflect actual production costs, and are often unaffordable for small and beginning farmers who face the highest premiums relative to their income.

2. Program eligibility: Not every disaster qualifies for every program, and application deadlines, documentation requirements, and county-level designations can leave eligible farmers without compensation through administrative failures rather than policy intent.

3. Structural underinsurance: Many farmers — particularly small operations under 500 acres — carry minimal or no crop insurance because premiums consume a disproportionate share of their thin margins. When disaster strikes, they are entirely exposed.

THE FORWARD OUTLOOK

USDA projects corn cash receipts to fall another 4% in 2025, and soybean receipts to fall 6%. Cotton is the only major row crop projected to see any increase.

When declining commodity income stacks on top of three consecutive years of $21 billion+ in disaster losses, on top of elevated input costs (fertilizer, fuel, equipment), on top of rising interest rates on farm debt — that is the formula for the bankruptcy surge we are now seeing.

The crop loss picture and the farm bankruptcy picture are not separate stories.

They are the same story.

Sources: American Farm Bureau Federation Market Intelligence reports, USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA), USDA Economic Research Service (ERS)

03/25/2026

THE USDA HAS PAID OUT $29 BILLION IN FARM DISASTER RELIEF SINCE 2020 — AND IT MAY NOT BE ENOUGH

Since 2020, the United States Department of Agriculture has disbursed over $29 billion in disaster relief payments to American farmers and ranchers.

That is not a loan program.

These are grants and indemnity payments made to compensate for confirmed, verified losses of crops, livestock, orchards, vineyards, and farm infrastructure.

Here is the program-by-program breakdown:

- EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM (ERP) — 2020 and 2021 Losses
Congress authorized $10 billion for losses from wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, floods, and freeze events in crop years 2020 and 2021. Over 220,000 producers received payments under Phase 1 alone. These were not small checks — the program was designed to help offset losses that in many cases represented a farmer's entire annual income.

- EMERGENCY RELIEF PROGRAM (ERP) — 2022 Losses
An additional $3.74 billion was authorized for 2022 disaster losses, covering wildfires, droughts, winter storms, and other qualifying events.

- EMERGENCY LIVESTOCK RELIEF PROGRAM (ELRP)
In February 2026, USDA issued final payments totaling $1.89 billion for livestock losses in 2023–2024 due to drought, flooding, and wildfire. Ranchers who lost grazing land, hay supplies, and animals to climate-driven disasters received compensation — years after the events occurred.

- EMERGENCY COMMODITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (ECAP)
By July 2025, USDA had issued more than $7.8 billion in ECAP payments to over 500,000 eligible producers. Half a million American farm families needed emergency commodity assistance in a single program cycle.

- SUPPLEMENTAL DISASTER RELIEF PROGRAM (SDRP)
The American Relief Act of 2025 (signed December 2024) authorized $16.09 billion specifically for crop, tree, and vine losses in 2023–2024. By November 2025, Stage 1 had paid $5.7 billion to 381,000 producers. Stage 2 opened November 24, 2025 and applications run through April 30, 2026.

THE CRITICAL WARNING

There is currently no equivalent legislation authorized for 2026–2027 disaster losses.

The 2025 package was exceptional — a one-time congressional action responding to exceptional and documented damage.

If Congress does not act again, and the current political climate makes that uncertain, American farmers facing losses in 2025–2026 will have significantly less backstop than those who came before them.

Meanwhile, wildfires, drought, and extreme weather events are not slowing down.

The question is not whether American farmers will need disaster relief in 2026 and 2027. Based on everything the data tells us, they absolutely will. The question is whether Congress will be there when they do.

Sources: USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), USDA NASS, American Farm Bureau Federation

03/25/2026

THE WILDFIRE NUMBERS THAT SHOULD ALARM EVERY AMERICAN

Here's a data summary you won't see in one place anywhere else. Since 2020, the United States has seen over 43 million acres burn in wildfires.

Let's put that in perspective: 43 million acres is larger than the state of Georgia.

It is larger than the combined area of Ohio and Indiana.

It is an area so vast that if you drove through it at 60 miles per hour, non-stop, it would take you weeks.

Here is the year-by-year breakdown from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC):

• 2020: 10.1 million acres — one of the worst seasons on record

• 2021: 7.1 million acres — above average

• 2022: 7.6 million acres — above average

• 2023: 2.7 million acres — below average, the lowest since 1998

• 2024: 8.9 million acres — significantly above average

• 2025: 5.1 million acres, 77,850 individual fires — 213 fires per day, and the most structures ever destroyed in a single year (18,385 total, including 12,773 homes)

• 2026 Year-to-Date (as of March 25): 1.49 million acres already burned — more than DOUBLE the 10-year average for this date
The 10-year national average is 7.02 million acres per year.

We have exceeded that average in four of the last six years. The 'good year' in 2023 was the exception — not the beginning of a new, safer era.

What should concern us about 2026 is not just the volume, but the pace. We are barely through the first quarter of the year and already sitting at 128% above historical norms.

Summer — peak fire season for most of the country — has not yet arrived.

The human cost is staggering.

In 2025, 18,385 structures were destroyed by wildfires — the highest total in US recorded history.

Behind every one of those structures is a family, a farm, a business, a community.

These are not statistics.

They are lives, livelihoods, and generational investments turned to ash.

The agricultural impact is equally severe. Wildfires don't just destroy homes — they burn pastureland, kill livestock, destroy orchards and vineyards that took decades to establish, contaminate watersheds, and disrupt supply chains in ways that ripple for years.

This is the fire picture.

It does not stand alone — it intersects with drought, with crop loss, with farm debt, and with the slow erosion of the American agricultural landscape that we'll discuss further below.

Sources: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), USDA, American Farm Bureau Federation

12/22/2022

Never Give Up… Never.

Mexican beekeepers win fight against Monsanto! After hearing the evidence, a permit issued to Monsanto allowing Roundup-ready soybean production in the Yucatan has been overturned. The threat GM soybeans pose to the bees and honey production was deemed unacceptable. Sweet victory!

11/23/2022

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