U.S. farm debt is at highest point since 1980s agriculture crisis


American farmers are having trouble navigating a financial maize.
U.S. farm debt is the highest its been since the 1980s when the agriculture community was last in calamity, reports Reuters. The amount of debt has risen to over $400 billion, and loan demand is "historically high," per Reuters.
The current crisis is being caused by weakness in commodity prices, weather damage to crops and a loss of profitable export markets like China, Reuters reports.
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President Trump announced last year that the government would supply $12 million in aid to farmers in order to offset economic losses from tariff hikes. But farmers have made it clear they would rather trade relations go back to normal than receive a bailout from the government.
Thousands of farm operations saw a financial slump in the 1980s when low crop prices impacted farmers' ability to pay high-interest land and equipment loans, per Reuters.
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Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.
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