Federal Cuts Dampen Support For U.S. Farmers As Crops Flood
Image Source: Ray McCormick / Civil Eats
Farmers are accustomed to flooding that over-hydrates fields and lowers crop yields. Climate-related challenges are often resolved through crop insurance payments, paid for by taxpayers and farmer premiums. Accessing these funds as a farmer is a different story. According to an Environmental Working Group study, the USDA doled out $11 billion from 2017 to 2024 to the Mississippi River Critical Conservation Area for crop yield losses due to flooding and heavy precipitation. Yet the agency only spent $745 million on climate resilient measures. Due to USDA staffing cuts, farmers are struggling to access funds from the federal budget reconciliation bill passed this July, which guaranteed $56 billion in conservation spending over a 10-year span. The crop insurance payments along have not gone far enough to cover farmer losses.
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Mass Deportations Lead To Economic Setbacks In Agriculture
Image Source: CivilEats
In the first half of 2025, 1.2 million foreign workers left the U.S workforce. U.S. Bureau Of Labor statistics data shows agricultural employment fell 6.5% overall from March to July. With increased ICE raids over the past six months, the food and agriculture industries have taken a significant hit in employment. According to Economic Insights and Researching Consulting, increasing deportations are set to cause economic damage across the agriculture, hospitality, and construction sectors. EIRC researcher Robert Lynch says, “There are early warning signs in the data that economic harm in the form of employment losses and higher prices is happening.”
Labor Shortages In Rural America Impact Agriculture Industry
Image Source: Lindsey Pound / The Packer
Growing labor shortages may slow US agricultural output and curtail growth in the US economy. “Barring an unforeseen change in labor force participation rates or immigration policies, the pool of available workers is set to shrink sharply in the next few years,” says Rob Fox, director of CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange. CoBank, the primary credit bank of the US Farm Credit System, released a quarterly report highlighting the struggles. “There is no single reason people are stepping away,” Fox explains. “It’s a combination of rising caregiving responsibilities, job skill mismatches, mental health challenges and higher disability rates. These are complex issues that won’t be resolved overnight.”
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Farmers Face New Battles As Bird Flu Jumps From Poultry To Cattle
Image Source: Jeffery DelViscio / Scientific American
While the bird flu has been a known infectious disease among poultry farmers for years, the jump from poultry to dairy was far more unexpected. Poultry farmers have been lining the surrounding areas of their chicken barns with gravel and even shining lasers to deter other birds from contaminating facilities. Now, cattle farmers may be following suit in the same practices as bird flu makes the jump from chickens to cows. Farmers in Texas noticed cattle were producing less dairy and getting sick back in 2024, and sent blood samples to Elisha Frye of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine to be studied. Frye concluded it was H5N1, a strain of bird flu. Humans are getting sick from H5N1, too, although not as often. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 70 bird flu infections in humans since last year, where most cases included farmworkers in contact with sick cattle and poultry.
Vertical Robotic Farms Supply Whole Foods Market With Sustainable Fresh Produce
Image Source / Progressive Grocer
Meet Opollo Farm, an automated vertical farm using cubic storage and robotics to grow high quality produce. The innovative farming system was built by AutoStore and OnePointOne, and has now become a supplier of Whole Foods Market, at least in Arizona where the farm is based. The farm operates entirely indoors, using robots to water and maintain plants as well as software that adjusts programs based on data highlighting real time plant conditions. “Traditional farming consumes vast amounts of water and land — resources that are becoming scarce,” added Sam Bertram, CEO of OnePointOne. “With AutoStore’s modular robotics and our plant-production technology, we can grow food almost anywhere, using a fraction of those resources. This collaboration helps overcome the cost and scalability challenges of vertical farming, finally making locally grown produce — the No. 1 priority for U.S. consumers — possible even in urban areas.”
