Arkansas farmers are asking for financial help from the federal government, saying they're on the verge of a massive crisis.
Arkansas leads the nation in rice production and ranks among the top states for cotton, soybeans and poultry. Farmers in Arkansas say they need help, and they need it quickly.
That includes Scott Brown of Brown Cattle Farms in the northeast Arkansas town of Biggers. He says he only has a month or two left before he loses everything.
“This has been in our family since the Oklahoma land rush, since the early 1800s, and I'm the one that's gonna lose all this,” he said.
Brown wanted his daughter to inherit the land, but says there just isn't a way to turn a profit.
Last week, he and hundreds of other farmers met in a church in the Northeast Arkansas town of Brookland. They called on their U.S. representatives to throw them a bone.
For decades, Arkansas farmers sold large amounts of their soybean harvest to China. But a wave of bad weather this year and inflation have raised costs. What's more, recent tariffs have led China to start buying soybeans from Brazil.
Brown says all these factors make it hard for farmers to avoid bankruptcy.
“When you go get a crop loan, everything that you own is collateral of your crop loan,” he said. “If your house is paid for, it's collateral. If your shop is paid for, it's collateral. Everything we own is collateral against the crop loan. So everybody's scared.”
The Agricultural Council of Arkansas, a lobbying group, has been to Washington, D.C. to ask lawmakers for assistance. They say the current situation could close one in three farms in Arkansas.
While there is money for farmers in the Republican tax and spending law, they won’t benefit until next year. U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas leads the Senate Agriculture Committee. He says in a statement that he's making efforts to tell the Trump Administration that the situation in rural America is serious.
