None of us can afford to bankroll Big Ag anymore.
Most farmers will tell you they like being their own boss. But the truth is, too many farmers aren’t really calling the shots anymore. A handful of giant companies can set the price of seed and fertilizer, dictate the contracts, and hold enormous power over what farmers get paid. Farmers can work hard, do everything right, and still not make a fair living from what they grow. Too often, it’s crop insurance and government payments keeping the farm afloat, not a fair price from the market.
Farmers are asked to follow a lot of rules, and for the most part, they do. But the biggest agribusiness corporations ought to have to play by fair rules, too. They don’t. Instead, they’ve got big campaign contributions, an army of paid lobbyists, and a revolving door between industry and government. And they use that power to shape the rules in their favor—while family farmers are left playing on a field that was never level to begin with.
And we all end up paying for it. Family farmers get squeezed. Our water protections get weakened. Small towns lose farmers, businesses, and people as more of the wealth gets pulled out of the community and sent somewhere else. And somehow, after all of that, families are still paying too much for groceries.
We’ve got to try something different. None of us can afford to bankroll Big Ag anymore.
- A handful of big companies have too much power over farmers. Farmers take the risk, put in the work, and carry the debt, but a few giant companies control the seed, fertilizer, processing, equipment, and markets. They get to set too many of the terms, and farmers are left trying to make the numbers work.
- We need to put some rules back on the corporations, not just the farmers. Enforce our antitrust laws. Stop mergers that leave farmers with fewer choices. Protect Minnesota’s Corporate Farm Law. Give farmers the right to repair the equipment they own. And make sure they have fair contracts and real choices about where they buy and where they sell.
- And we need to make it possible to make a good living farming. That means more independent processors, fairer prices, affordable health insurance, and reliable markets farmers can trust. Because when farmers make a living from farming, that money gets spent at the implement dealer, the grocery store, the cafe, and the school fundraiser. That’s how you keep a small town alive.