BY TAMMIE SLOUP
Piatt County farmer Jared Gregg says the current ag economy downturn is the most severe he’s seen in the last four decades.
“I would say the farm economy is seeing the most impactful squeeze play in the last 40 years this year, between getting hit with low commodity prices at a time when input prices and interest rates are sky high, and it just impacts your decisions, not only for this year’s crop, but next year’s as well,” Gregg said.
During his visit to Farm Progress Show in Decatur Aug. 26, USDA Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden heard similar stories from farmers, who inquired about tariff implications, the need for more markets and the possibility of future emergency assistance.
Gregg was one of more than 50 Illinois Farm Bureau members and other commodity group representatives who met directly with Vaden during a roundtable at the show. House Ag Committee members Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, and Mary Miller, R-Oakland, also spoke at the event.
Vaden said Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins, who was attending a cabinet meeting with the president that day, is delivering the message that the administration must prioritize agriculture.
“We’ve got to step up the pace and we’ve got to focus in particular on corn, soy and our other row crops, which need more markets sooner rather than later,” Vaden told FarmWeek and RFD Radio Network following the roundtable.
Vaden touted the federal budget reconciliation bill passed in July provides more tax certainty for farmers and improved the farm safety net, but acknowledged farmers continue to see their margins tighten in the short term.
“We understand many of those (budget provisions) don’t kick in until next year, so what we’ve got to be focused on for the remainder of this year, into the new growing season, are finding markets for farmers to sell their crops at fair prices and supporting policies like increased adaptation of biofuels like E15 year-round that will make a difference by increasing demand for what farmers here in Illinois are growing,” Vaden said.
Vaden said Rollins is in conversations about “what we need to do to bridge this year to next year” for farmers.
Speaking to reporters following a public event at Farm Progress Show’s main stage, Vaden answered a question about whether the secretary might be pitching a payment program to help farmers financially to get through the 2025 crop year, saying: “We’re seeing the same thing that farmers are seeing with regard to commodity prices, and we know that many of the most important pieces of the One Big Beautiful Bill don’t come into effect until 2026 ... and we don’t get the Commodity Credit Corporation re-up until really November of this year, and that’s after the harvest is largely completed for our corn and soybean farmers. So we’ve got to get them from this growing season to the next growing season.
“Part of that is the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program, the $8 billion that we have laid out for the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program — the first tranche of which is about $4 billion total that we’ve laid out, the second tranche will be announced in September, which will cover crop losses that were not covered by crop insurance. And there may be future announcements to come in that respect as well. But all of that is only a partial answer. We are seeking to develop policy solutions to help bridge that, and that’s what the secretary and I are working on, and what she’s constantly talking to not only the president but other members of her cabinet about.”
IFB President Brian Duncan said the roundtable was a “tremendous opportunity for members to share their concerns and gain insight into what the administration’s plans are to bring improvement to the farm economy.”
“We recognize there are no quick fixes, but the secretary heard directly from our members about the current realities Illinois farmers are facing,” Duncan said, also thanking Bost and Miller for their participation.
In communications with U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer, Vaden also noted his and Rollins’ focus has been on row crops.
“We’re looking at the same commodity prices that the farmers are. We know those have got to come up, and the only way those can come up is to increase demand. So getting us back our old markets won’t be enough, given the level of productivity that we have, we’ve got to open up new markets, and that’s our focus,” Vaden told reporters after the main stage event. “But you can bet that in every conversation that we’re going to have with administration officials ... opening up new markets, focusing on the commodity prices and focusing on the possible record yields we are seeing this fall is first and foremost in every conversation that we are having.”
Vaden also expressed his strong support for a fix to California’s Proposition 12, noting the legislation now affects pork and egg-laying hens but that’s just “the tip of the iceberg.”
The implementation of California’s Proposition 12, which places housing requirements on pork production, has pushed small- and mid-sized pork producers out of the sector and resulted in increased pork prices across the country, according to USDA data. The law also has long-term implications for interstate trade, prompting IFB to support a fix being included in the next farm bill, which is expected to be next up on the House Ag Committee’s agenda when Congress returns from recess in September.
“The bottom line is, and it’s actually very simple, we can’t be opposed to unfair foreign trade barriers, while at the same time we tolerate domestic trade barriers put up by states like California,” Vaden told FarmWeek. “We don’t think farmers should face trade barriers overseas, and we sure as heck don’t think they should face them here in the United States. And we’re going to work overtime to try to knock down both.”
Following the IFB roundtable, Gregg said he was impressed with Vaden’s responses to farmers.
“He was very in tune with not only long-term strategy of where agriculture needs to be ... but if we don’t have assistance in the short term, those great, long-term strategies that will help agriculture won’t matter,” Gregg said.
Both Bost and Miller complimented Vaden’s answers to farmers’ questions, with Bost saying, “I think he gave a lot of reassurances that many of these farmers did not have before,” and Miller noting “He understands the plight of grain farmers here in Illinois.”