John Boozman

American farmers are experiencing significant financial losses due to rising costs and trade disputes.

A $12 billion government aid program is expected to cover only a fraction of farmers' total losses.

Former agriculture leaders warn of a potential widespread collapse in the industry due to current policies.

CHICAGO ― The chair of the U.S. Senate's agriculture committee warns that farmers are suffering heavy losses, while more than two dozen former industry leaders are sounding the alarm about the risk of a "widespread collapse of American agriculture" ahead of a $12 billion government bailout expected to reach growers this month.

For three years, the costs of seed, fertilizer and other farm inputs have risen while plentiful grain supplies limited profits for farmers, economists say. Then, President Donald Trump returned to office last year, sparking trade disputes that disrupted U.S. crop exports and immigration crackdowns that increased labor costs and left some farms with crops rotting in fields.

Many farmers are now bracing to potentially lose money for a fourth consecutive year. Tough credit conditions are forcing those with limited cash flows to make decisions about what acres to plant and how much fertilizer to buy, economists say.

On Tuesday, Feb. 3, U.S. Sen. John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said in a webcast of a conference of state agriculture officials in Washington that farmers growing crops are "losing money, lots of money." And former U.S. Department of Agriculture and industry officials said in a letter to U.S. lawmakers that Trump administration policies harmed farmers.

The New York Times reported that one of the 27 signatories to the letter, Jon Doggett, the former chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association, said in an interview that “our farmers and ranchers can compete with the world, but they can’t compete with the world with a chaotic set of policy circumstances."

In other grim agriculture developments: