Chris Gibbs

Thanks, Guy.

Chris Gibbs already knows he's going to be in the red this year.

Again, he's a farmer in Maplewood.

growing mostly soybeans and corn, which get turned into vegetable oil, livestock feed, and corn syrup, plus a bit of wheat and a few dozen cattle.

In the driveway, he's got a semi-truck hauling a thousand bushels of corn, ready to go to Dayton, Ohio tomorrow to get turned into syrup.

A bunch of his costs have gone up this year.

Since the war in the Middle East started, the price of diesel is up by more than 30 percent.

Gibbs uses a lot, especially as he enters planting season.

Fertilizer has gotten more expensive, too.

Tariffs are making things more expensive, too.

His equipment has foreign-made parts.

Take his grain head, for example, which harvests soybeans and wheat.

But if you open it up... He points to a casting, a pulley... You can see right here... Both made in China, just like the drive chain he replaced on his corn planter last year.

And while his costs are up, his sale price is down.

Because of the president's import taxes, countries aren't buying U.S.

crops like they used to.

He's also got corn left over from last year.

And he's got to take whatever prices Bayer offers, just like every other farmer.

Economist Faith Parham at the American Farm Bureau Federation says most corn, wheat and soybean farmers haven't had a profitable year since 2023.

We've seen a rising number of farm closures.