The head of the North Dakota Farmers Union said he’s worried some family farmers might walk away from the farm during this era of high input prices, and low crop prices.
"Farm debt is at an all-time high in the United States," Perdue said. "We're projected to have over $625 billion in farm debt in 2026."
Perdue said a lot of producers are carrying high debt servicing costs.
"Those are the producers who are most vulnerable right now," Perdue said. "A lot of producers happen to be young, beginning farmers who are trying to grow their operations, get more efficient, become economically viable. Those are the ones at risk right now, and those are the ones we're spending the most time trying to figure out how we can support."
Perdue said the Farmers Union is trying to work with the state’s Congressional delegation to strengthen commodity markets. And he says there is talk of providing additional support for these producers, in light of the financial challenges.
"But if we don't get those things done, it's a very real threat that we're going to lose family farmers this year," Perdue said.
