Arkansas Lawmakers Urge Feds to Help Farmers Stay Afloat in Struggling Industry

By Tess Vrbin

Arkansas lawmakers expressed concern about the state of the agriculture industry Friday and agreed to urge the federal government to provide financial aid to keep farmers afloat.

Commodity crop farmers are facing one of their worst periods in decades as a result of skyrocketing production costs and stagnant demand. Agriculture industry leaders told lawmakers last month in Stuttgart that 25–40% of farmers are likely to leave the industry after this season unless they receive aid.

Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee that met in Stuttgart and has worked as a farmer herself. She said Friday during the Arkansas Legislative Council’s monthly meeting that there is “a tsunami coming” for Arkansas farmers.

“One out of every three farms shutting down in the state of Arkansas is going to affect that budget that’s sitting there in front of you,” she told Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson. “And if we don’t start looking and forecasting out for that just in case the tsunami is coming, then we are failing the people of Arkansas.”

Federal lawmakers are responsible for renewing a sweeping agriculture bill every five years to set both policy and funding levels for the industry. Congress has repeatedly extended the 2018 farm bill a year at a time, but it expired Sept. 30 of this year, the day before the ongoing government shutdown began.

The shutdown is increasing farmers’ frustrations, said Senate Majority Leader Blake Johnson, a Corning Republican and longtime farmer. He told the council that “the whole U.S. agriculture sector” could go to Washington, D.C., and “shut that place down” in their efforts to secure stability for the industry.

Johnson later clarified in an interview that he was not aware of concrete plans for farmers to go to D.C. and demand aid, but he emphasized that the agriculture industry needs help by the end of November.

“These guys, who are at the breaking point, have got to know something before the first of the year,” Johnson told the Advocate. “Those plans will be made for next year going into December, and they’ve got to know where they stand.”

Hudson told the Legislative Council that he is aware of “some liquidation of farming operations” and that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture for farm aid.

“It’s incredibly unfortunate those farmers are hurting,” Hudson said. “I think this is a trade issue that needs to get resolved at a national and international level.”

He attributed some of the agriculture industry’s struggles to “predatory behavior by a foreign nation,” specifically China. Vaught said farmers’ primary problems are not China or tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump.

“Prices have been bad for three consecutive years,” she said in an interview. “We’ve had increases in our input and decreases in the amount of money that you’re receiving for your products. Because of that, it’s truly affecting the farmers and what they can borrow, how they can continue to farm, because [with] those inputs going up and getting less and less money, at some point bankers look at you and say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t lend you any more money.’”

The council passed a resolution presented by Vaught and Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, to “respectfully urge President Donald J. Trump to implement targeted relief for Arkansas farmers in 2025.”

Resolutions are recommendations rather than policy, but Vaught said she is hopeful the resolution will help Sanders and Arkansas’ congressmen make a case for farm aid. Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, one of the committees responsible for drafting the farm bill.

Arkansas Advocate is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. The Advocate retains full editorial independence.