{"id":1913,"date":"2026-06-21T19:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1913"},"modified":"2026-06-21T19:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T19:12:10","slug":"rural-americas-farms-are-already-being-crushed-by-an-economic-crisis-they-now-face-the-risk-of-a-mini-dust-bowl-as-a-rare-super-el-nino-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1913","title":{"rendered":"Rural America\u2019s farms are already being crushed by an economic crisis. They now face the risk of a \u2018mini-Dust Bowl\u2019 as a rare Super El Ni\u00f1o looms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After the post-COVID inflation spike, farmers had to pay higher input costs, then saw prices for their crops tumble. The Federal Reserve\u2019s aggressive rate-hiking campaign to tame inflation burdened farms with more onerous financing terms.<\/p>\n

Read more Taylor Swift\u2019s Rhode Island summer town is on high alert for a sudden wedding as rumors fly<\/a><\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war last year hiked tariffs on key metals that raised prices for tractors, combines, harvesters, and parts. China\u2019s retaliation resulted in a virtual boycott on American soybeans, and\u00a0exports collapsed\u00a0to just $3 billion in 2025 from a peak of nearly $18 billion in 2022.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. and China called a ceasefire on their trade war, but soybean growers are expected mark their fourth straight money-losing year in 2026.<\/p>\n

Then Trump\u2019s war on Iran this year sent diesel and fertilizer costs soaring. And while the U.S. and Iran have stopping fighting, energy markets aren\u2019t expected to return to normal for months, and fertilizer prices are expected to remain higher than usual into spring 2027. Meanwhile, farm bankruptcies are soaring.<\/p>\n

On top of all that, weather forecasters see a rare \u201cSuper El Ni\u00f1o\u201d forming that could devastate the farm economy even more. <\/p>\n

AccuWeather warned on Friday that conditions are in place for a multi-year drought that could threaten crop yields\u00a0and the\u00a0water supply. Previous Super El Ni\u00f1o instances resulted dry conditions\u00a0in the\u00a0Plains\u00a0states for two to threes years afterward, it added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf the long-term drought is as bad as it could be, and you are starting off already with\u00a0severe drought, this\u00a0raises the real possibility of a\u00a0\u2018mini-Dust Bowl,’\u201d\u00a0AccuWeather founder and Executive Chair Joel Myers said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoybeans will be stressed further in the months and years\u00a0ahead, and\u00a0yields on some of\u00a0these\u00a0crops will be reduced in parts of the country.\u00a0If that happens, it will have a negative impact on food production, leading to price inflation.\u00a0Furthermore, water supplies will be harmed, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o\u00a0often delivers\u00a0above-average\u00a0rainfall in the southern U.S., drought\u00a0is common in northern areas of the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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And with the Plains already\u00a0suffering from extreme drought, El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o perpetuates those conditions. Very dry weather tends to lead to higher temperatures, which causes more evaporation that intensifies the drought\u2014leading to even drier conditions, Myers explained.<\/p>\n

Read more Vice President JD Vance meets top Iranian officials to begin peace talks, seeking to \u2018change relations in the Middle East permanently\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

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The prospect of even a mini-Dust Bowl is alarming as the original disaster during the Great Depression sent dust clouds across rural America, wiping out entire communities and triggering mass migration to other parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not predicting a Dust Bowl, which was\u00a0disastrous\u00a0during the\u00a01930s,\u00a0to occur now\u00a0because there were poor farming practices\u00a0back\u00a0then and other things that we do better today,\u201d Myers added. \u201cBut we are taking the\u00a0situation\u00a0we are experiencing today\u00a0very seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be sure, a Super El\u00a0Ni\u00f1o would also affect other agricultural markets around the world. Parts of South America could see drier and wetter seasons, though soybean and wheat yields have typically increased in South America during El Ni\u00f1o.<\/p>\n

That could spell more trouble for U.S. farmers as larger harvests in South America have sent soybean prices down by a third from 2022 levels. <\/p>\n

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The price spike from the Iran war could also force the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again, making financing more costly. According to the Kansas City Fed, farmers with loans in excess of $100,000 already face interest rates of nearly 7%, more than double the rate from four years ago.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has stepped up support for farmers, just as it did when the president waged a trade war against China in his first term. <\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act included about $66 billion in agriculture-focused spending. The vast majority, about $59 billion, is earmarked for farm safety-net enhancements.<\/p>\n

But bankruptcies are still on the rise. Chapter 12 family farm bankruptcies jumped by 46% in 2025 to 315 filings, marking the second consecutive year of increases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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And in just the first four months of 2026, at least 158 Chapter 12 bankruptcies had already been filed. April alone saw 62 filings, up 130% from the same month a year ago.<\/p>\n

Read more Britain marks Brexit\u2019s 10th anniversary with an economy 4%-8% smaller than if it never voted to leave<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AccuWeather warned on Friday that conditions are in place for a multi-year drought that could threaten crop yields\u00a0and the\u00a0water supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[258],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture"],"yoast_head":"\nRural America\u2019s farms are already being crushed by an economic crisis. 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