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Opinion | Alabama farmers are going bankrupt. They don’t have to

Alabama farmers, like farmers across the country, are voting themselves into bankruptcy. They’re choosing to identify as conservative instead of financially stable.

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Alabama farmers are getting crushed. 

Of the handful of family farms that remain in this state, many of them are currently teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. And there is little hope for a turnaround on the horizon. Because they have been crushed by the current president’s tariffs and bipolar approach to trade deals. 

There is no debating this fact. It is a simple, ironclad fact of farming life—the current trade environment is killing farms of all sizes, but particularly those smaller farms. If you doubt this, ask one of them. They’ve been saying it in interviews and at farmers meetings for months now. 

On CNN last week, an Illinois farmer went into painful detail explaining exactly how Trump’s policies—i.e. his idiotic tariffs—have caused prices for soybeans to crash. The same yield that brought $60,000 a couple of years ago now brings about $40,000. Same crop. Same equipment. Same work. 

But that reduction in value is also combined with a staggering loss of workers, thanks to Trump’s immigration policies. And it’s also combined with higher grocery prices, thanks again to Trump’s economic policies that have both failed to bring down prices on any goods and the imposed tariffs that have driven prices up substantially on many items. 

It is so bad that even Donald Trump, never one to admit a mistake, has talked of a bailout for farmers. And maybe that will happen. Or some other farm deal will come along. 

But what’s most likely to happen is what’s happened routinely throughout our country’s history: Democrats will come up with a plan that lifts farmers out of financial ruin and offers them an economy that allows them to prosper again. 

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You doubt this? 

Well, consider that while former President Joe Biden and Trump paid out roughly the same amount in support for farmers during their presidencies, net farm income under Biden—and the Democrats’ lift-from-the-bottom farm package—was almost double what it was under Trump. 

Look back through history and you’ll find similar good economic fortune for farmers during Democratic presidencies and Democratic control of Congress. In fact, it’s hard to find a downturn year for American farmers when Dems were running the show. 

Which makes you wonder … why do so many farmers, and farmers’ organizations, keep voting Republican? 

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Alabama Farmers Federation released its endorsements for the 2026 election cycle. Every single endorsement was for a Republican candidate. 

From governor to Public Service Commission, it was a roll call of all the people who support—who still loudly and proudly support, mind you—the very policies that have our farmers teetering on that bankruptcy cliff. All of them looooove the tariffs. All of them cheer the draconian immigration policies. All of them will readily tell anyone who’ll listen that Trump has been great for the economy. 

Y’all are feeding the country but can’t afford to eat. And you’re being encouraged to vote for the people who put you in this situation. 

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Um, what are y’all doing? 

Every year, I hear farmers complain about the decline of the family farm, about how tough it is, about how the government has its foot on their neck, about the dumb policies that seem designed to hurt the small farmer and help the corporate giants. 

Census results released last year showed that the country lost more than 140,000 small farms between 2017 and 2022, and that more than 20 million acres of farmland disappeared in that stretch. It was a staggering and unexpected decline. 

Guess who was in charge most of that time? 

I’ll remind you as well that it was the Dems who told you about—and tried to prepare you for—climate change and the serious impact it was going to have on your ability to farm for the foreseeable future. It was the Dems who offered subsidies and incentives to farmers to assist with those changes. Those things played major roles in a lot of farms surviving the last several years, as seasons shifted dramatically and crazy weather wreaked havoc on farms. 

Look, I get that Republicans have done a fantastic job over the years pretending to be great friends of the farming community. And I also acknowledge that Democrats haven’t done enough to connect with farmers and exchange ideas. But at the same time, there’s also something to be said for the bottom line. And the bottom line in this instance is the actual bottom line, where there’s a lot of red ink for farmers whenever a rightwinger is in charge. 

It seems to me that a whole lot of farmers, and maybe the entire Federation, has gotten wrapped up in partisan politics—of being more concerned with identifying as conservative instead of worrying more about identifying as a financially stable farmer whose kids aren’t hungry.  

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That’s not an insult. And it’s not making light of a whole bunch of folks’ very real, very scary situations right now. 

I’m just encouraging you to vote for people whose policies aren’t sending you into bankruptcy.

Josh Moon is an investigative reporter and columnist. You can reach him at [email protected].

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