Frank Morris

Tariffs have a lot to do with that, and President Trump has promised farmers a bailout to partially compensate for their trade war losses.

But Pat Westhoff, an economist at the University of Missouri, says that's not happening anytime soon.

Things aren't going to go forward until the government's open again, it appears to me.

Farmers can't expect immediate help when the government does reopen.

The USDA has lost about 20,000 employees this year.

And every day the shutdown drags on, more work backs up.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.

Most corn, wheat, and soybean farmers are losing money.

Shortages and tariffs have jacked up the price of fertilizer and farm equipment they have to buy.

While trade wars are depressing the price of the grain they have to sell, normally in hard times, Missouri farmer Richard Oswald would look to the U.S.

Department of Agriculture for a short-term loan.

Not this year.

The USDA is mostly shut down.

President Trump has promised farmers a bailout, but that's delayed.

And it's unclear how any assistance program would work absent a functioning USDA.

Economists expect farm foreclosures to rise.

For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City.

Most corn, wheat, and soybean farmers are losing money.

Shortages than tariffs have jacked up the price of fertilizer and farm equipment they have to buy, while trade wars are depressing the price of the grain they have to sell.

Normally in hard times, Missouri farmer Richard Oswald would look to the U.S.