US farmers are filing for bankruptcy at the highest rate since 2011

• An increasing number of American farmers struggled to make ends meet in 2019.
• There were 595 Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies filed last year, according to court filings reviewed by the American Farm Bureau, a 20% increase from 2018.

• Trade tensions have added to a range of growing challenges in the sector, from severe weather to low commodity prices. 

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An increasing number of American farmers struggled to make ends meet in 2019 as trade tensions added to a range of growing challenges in the sector, from severe weather to low commodity prices. 

There were 595 Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies filed last year, according to court filings reviewed by the American Farm Bureau, a 20% increase from 2018. That was the highest level since 2011 when the nation was still in recovery following the Great Recession.

The rise in farm bankruptcies came even as President Donald Trump ramped up a nearly $28 billion subsidy program for agricultural producers hurt by trade disputes. The program included direct payments to mitigate losses of grain and pork exports, which fell sharply as the Trump administration escalated tariff standoffs with China and US allies.

Farm-related income from crop and livestock sales would have been at the second-lowest level in the last decade without that program in 2019, according to the American Farm Bureau. Midwestern farmers also faced record flooding last year. 

But farmers have grown more optimistic in recent weeks. Trump signed a revised version of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday, which was expected to increase Canadian dairy market access for American farmers. As part of a separate trade truce, China said this month it would increase purchases of food products from the US.

"Farm financial conditions in 2020 will come down to – notwithstanding any other black swans – a race between the additional grain and oilseed supplies … and any demand boosts for US agriculture that results from these new and enhanced trading opportunities," the farm group said in a statement.

Trump declared on Twitter in early January that farmers were "really happy" with the two new trade agreements but sought to highlight efforts to soften the blow of two years of trade tensions. 

"I hope the thing they will most remember is the fact that I was able to take massive incoming Tariff money and use it to help them get through the tough times!" he added.

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