Farm Bankruptcies Hit 8-Year High

[babylonsister]

https://politicalwire.com/2020/01/31/farm-bankruptcies-hit-8-year-high/

Farm Bankruptcies Hit 8-Year High
January 31, 2020 at 8:23 am EST By Taegan Goddard

“U.S. farm bankruptcy rates jumped 20% in 2019 – to an eight-year high – as financial woes in the U.S. agricultural economy continued in spite of massive federal bail-out funding,” Reuters reports.

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https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2020/01/30/president-donald-trump-rally-des-moines-iowa-live-coverage/4609643002/

[Takket]

1. Why did they declare bankruptcy?

Haven’t they seen the DOW average? The economy has never been better!

[empedocles]

2. Great to see a poll of the bankruptcy farmer victims. Very curious.

[fescuerescue]

17. It actually wouldn't be hard to do at all.

All the bankruptcy data, including filers name and contact info is available on pacer.com (thats the federal court website)

According to the article, 595 families filed chapter 12 last year (chapter 12 is a farm bankruptcy)

There would be some fees, but we could easily get the names of all 595 for a few hundred dollars.

[progressoid]

3. They need to pull themselves up by their boot straps.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. Yeah, see it a lot around here.

And these folks were not selling to China.

Mostly it is chicken farmers. The ones who raise chickens in weird UFO like buildings under contract to Tyson and Pilgrim. Seems these farmers are not making the millions Tyson promised.

[Amishman]

9. Chicken and dairy are under pressure

Dairy is suffering from lower demand

Chicken is high supply, especially with so many people around here avoiding the supermarket meats and getting from Farmers markets or direct from farmers.

Lots of hobby farms / side farms around here keeping a hundred or two meat birds and selling it directly as free range and no hormones/antibiotics (which is true). It's cutting into the dedicated chicken farms sales

[Farmer-Rick]

18. I sure hope the hobby farmer is making a dent

Not just very small hobby farms but real organic smaller farms like Eliot Coleman and others.

But I really feel sorry for the farmers who got huge loans to build weird half sized chicken barns then can barely make the loan payments or any profits. Tyson makes this elaborate pitch, making farmers think they will be rich. It's just sad.

Something most people don't notice or talk about is the
dairy subsidies that were gradually phased out starting in the late 1990s. The federal phase out also included states phasing out price supports and grants to dairy farmers. This is why the small dairy farmers are dropping out. The subsidies were put into place by FDR to stabilize prices and support small farmers. The filthy rich ensured the small dairy farm subsidies got wiped out when "free" trade agreements made the subsidies illegal in order to allow competition from corporations and foreign suppliers.

Yes, some people are not drinking or drinking less milk. But overall quantities of purchased milk has not dropped just the percentage of Americans who drink milk has dropped. This small decrease can also be attributed to declining quality of milk. Grocery store milk is bland and boring. Not like the rich sweet milk fresh from the dairy.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Winning baby!!!!!!

[dalton99a]

6. And they will vote for Trump.

[lunasun]

7. Small sacrifice for the greater good

Authoritarian rule has priorities

[spanone]

8. ...and they will still vote for him.

[UpInArms]

10. Hard for me to find any sympathy

They made their bed, and now they can suck it up.

[struggle4progress]

11. "Quick! Look over there! It looks like Democrats plotting to kill all your cows!"

[Golden Raisin]

12. Let's see if they stop voting for Trump

and all other Republicans. Not holding my breath.

[durablend]

13. Newp

"Pwning those libs now! And it's DAMN HILLARY'S FAULT we're in bankruptcy!"

Watch!

[ooky]

15. Just watched a CNN interview with a farmer.

Blamed it on "both parties".

[marmar]

14. And anyone who believes him has inhaled too much fertilizer.

babylonsister

[fescuerescue]

16. 95 more farm bankruptcies in 2019 than in 2018.

That's 95 more families that won't be voting for Trump in November that's for sure!