NPR | American Farmers Were Already Struggling. The Shutdown Made it Worse

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with fourth generation farmer and advocate Joe Maxwell about how the government shutdown is stressing already overwhelmed American farmers.

Transcript

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: America’s farmers are getting walloped by the federal government shutdown. The closing of government offices means they have lost access to data and loans that help keep them afloat. Then there’s health care. More than a quarter of the nation’s farmers rely on the Affordable Care Act, along with the subsidies that are at the heart of the shutdown fight. And add to that the fact that farmers’ finances are taking a hit from President Trump’s tariffs.

Now, these are all things Joe Maxwell is thinking a lot about. He’s a fourth-generation farmer, also chief strategy officer for Farm Action. It’s a nonpartisan advocacy organization. Maxwell also spent several years in Missouri state Democratic politics. Joe Maxwell, welcome.

JOE MAXWELL: Yes, Mary Louise. It’s good to speak with you and all the folks out there listening.

KELLY: Start us off just by ticking, as briefly as you can, through the tools that the federal government, when it is open – what it provides to support farmers.

MAXWELL: Absolutely. And farmers rely on the federal government because of the financial situations that they’re in. So farmers rely on government programs that provide subsidies, checks. Most of our smaller and midsize farmers rely on government loans, usually at a lower interest rate, or just access to the capital that the big banks don’t want to fool with the smaller farmer. And we also rely on conservation dollars, programs that help soil health, that help the environment. And so it’s an array of programs, and it’s a partnership between a farmer and the government.

KELLY: So just paint me a picture. Typical American family farmer who is used to relying on some of the services and government help you’re talking about and who’s not getting it now – just what does the day look like?

MAXWELL: The day has sweat on your brow in a cold weather. It’s because of stress. We have been under financial stress. The government, in December last year, put together a financial package – a bailout for farmers for their 2024 crop year. So this shutdown and trade wars and tariffs, while they hit – we recognize as farmers it’s hitting all of us as people, and we’re not trying to say we’re the only ones, but we went into this in a very stressful financial situation.

KELLY: For people who may be listening to this and thinking, hey, there’s uncertainty in my business too, and, hey, my business doesn’t get support from the federal government, would you make the argument why the government plays such a big role in American agriculture?

MAXWELL: American agriculture is a large economic engine for this country, but it’s made up, as opposed to one or two or – big companies, the folks producing the food are, you know, nearly a million individuals. And it’s important not only for the farmer to have that data, but it’s important for the government to have that data to understand their economic bottom line with trade, to understand the stability of their food supply for all of us. So I think it’s important for everyone to understand that it’s really a mutual benefit, this data.

KELLY: So this shutdown fight, as you know, is centered around government-funded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. And I understand we’ve got data from KFF that found more than a quarter of American farmers and ranchers primarily rely on the Affordable Care Act – the ACA – for health care. Just how important is that in your industry?

MAXWELL: You know, the plight of the middle-size and family farmer – because of the financial stress that they’ve been under for a number of years, many have begun to rely on the subsidies that support health care under the ACA, and that’s how they receive their health care. I think it’s also important to know the average age of a farmer is about 58 years old. So they’re several years away from Medicare, they’re getting into where health is an issue and are strongly reliant upon those subsidies.

KELLY: And just help me understand what that will mean for American farmers. KFF – this is the independent nonprofit health care research foundation – they also found that if the subsidies expire, ACA premiums would go up by a lot, like more than 100%. What does that mean for your average farmer?

MAXWELL: Means the same thing it does for that person working down there washing dishes at the local restaurant or serving food. It’s just not manageable. It’s just not manageable. And to be without insurance, you know, you’re literally, you know, one farm accident – it’s a very dangerous profession – one illness, and you could lose the farm. So, you know, you just struggle to try to justify how you can go without insurance, but then you look at your bank account, and you don’t know how you’re going to afford it.

KELLY: No.

MAXWELL: Just adding another stress to that sleepless night.

KELLY: So we’ve been talking about several aspects of what’s happening with the shutdown, which is, of course, unfolding at the same time as President Trump’s trade war with China and the tariffs, which has had a massive impact, I know, on corn farmers, soybean farmers. You’re one of them. You farm corn and soybeans, right? What’s – what has been the impact on your operations?

MAXWELL: I think every American can understand that if your largest customer one day is buying and the next day lets you know, we don’t need any of yours, and goes to your next largest competitor, you have a problem. The president has started a trade war with America’s No. 1 customer. If we don’t have a buyer, then we have somewhere around at least – compared to last year, China was represent about 25- to 30% of the total purchase of soybeans in the United States. That would be from the – about half of all our soybeans are exported. China represented a little over half of that export.

In a different year, perhaps a farmer could, you know, hang in there, but with all this other financial stress going into it and a year before having to ask for bailouts from government, then the trade war is just almost the last straw.

KELLY: That’s fourth-generation farmer Joe Maxwell of Farm Action. Mr. Maxwell, thank you.

MAXWELL: Thank you so much.