US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins admits the farm economy is in rough shape but pushed back at a recent Senate Ag Committee hearing about the extent of farm bankruptcies.
Top Senate Ag Democrat Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said there were 315 farm bankruptcies last year, which is up 46 percent.
Rollins rebutted saying 315 is actually a very small percentage of American farms and ranches.
“The bankruptcies that are reflected in your numbers are about point-03 percent, point-03 percent of the total farms in our country. Now, again, I do not want to sit here and say it’s nothing to worry about. Every farm is absolutely something we should be fighting to save.”
As for what are known as ‘Chapter 12’ bankruptcies, Rollins says…..
“Chapter 12 doesn’t mean they’re going out of business, it just means they’re reorganizing. But certainly, with the loss of markets, the cost of inputs, there’s no doubt that the farm economy is facing serious headwinds.”
Fertilizer cost is currently among the biggest drags on farm income. However, Rollins says production is getting restarted in the US– including the world’s largest ammonium plant and one of the largest phosphate plants, both in Louisiana.
Rollins has garnered some funding from Commerce and Energy but told Senate Ag Committee members that Commodity Credit Corporation emergency funds are tight. The CCC, replenished annually to its permanent borrowing level of $30 billion, is used mainly for ARC, PLC, Dairy Margin Coverage, CRP and disaster aid.
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