As 2025 Ends, Farmers Are Still Reeling From The Shake Up Of Markets And Federal Programs

By Hope Kirwan

Farmers across the central U.S. have navigated a myriad of challenges this year, including low crop prices and federal funding cuts.

Under a blanket of snow in western Wisconsin, Craig Myhre's grain bins are full this winter. He even rented extra storage space at a nearby farm.

"It looked like the thing to do was going to be to sit on your bushels," said Myhre, who has been farming corn and soybeans for nearly 40 years.

Crop prices, especially for soybeans, were below his cost of production throughout the summer, Myhre said, which kept him from preselling some of his crops through forward contracting.

By the time harvest rolled around, his best shot at a profit was waiting to sell in the spring. That means he doesn't have the typical influx of cash to pay off his bills from the year and buy fertilizer and seed for next spring.

"Normally, I've sold all my beans in the fall, quite a bit of the corn," Myhre said. "This is new territory for me. And so that's why I'm trying to figure out how to juggle all this."

It's not how he usually handles a plentiful crop like the one he harvested this fall. But 2025 was an unusual year for most farmers. Across the central U.S., producers faced tight margins, ever-changing global trade conditions and a shake up of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many of its programs.

High costs, tariffs challenge farm profits

From the start of the year, Myhre knew his margins were going to be tight. Soybean prices have been down since the end of 2023. At the same time, the cost of supplies have continued to rise. An analysis by the American Soybean Association found annual production expenses over the last four years have been among the highest in U.S. history.

"You're trying to figure out where you can trim costs, but it's just tough," Myhre said. "Parts, repair bills, fuel. It's hard to get away from the bills, because it's stuff you've got to have."

Balancing the books became even more challenging for producers this year when President Donald Trump fulfilled his campaign promise of bringing back tariffs on China and other major trading partners.

The Trump administration constantly changed who was paying higher tariffs and on what products. Paul Mitchell, agricultural and applied economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that caused major swings in commodity prices and had a real impact on producers' ability to plan ahead.

"All that farmers heard was uncertainty, uncertainty, uncertainty, in the midst of this troubled economic outlook," Mitchell said.