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Wasser: low crop prices, high costs fuel calls for more federal farm support

The CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association says farmers could use additional support from the federal government as commodity prices remain suppressed and input costs are high.

Casey Wasser tells Brownfield it’s unclear if it will happen.

“I know that U.S. Senate Ag Committee Chairman Boozman, it’s a priority for him. If I’m a betting man, Congress is going to have another budget bill to work on here shortly. And so there are states banding together to try to tell that story for farmers.”

Wasser says it would also be interesting to see more aid in a second farm bill. But he says the need is real.

“Those that are heavy on the cattle side with some row crops, they’re being able to sustain some of these losses a little better in Missouri,” he says. “The need down in Southeast Missouri where you don’t see fence rows, you don’t see cattle and when you go crop by crop, you know, cotton, then rice, then corn, then soybeans, you know, the need is pretty deep.”

He says if the situation doesn’t improve, there will be ag bankruptcies and retirements.