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Congressional Daily Record
This section covers nominations, confirmations, or other executive branch business. It mentions members such as John Thune.
Official title: Iowa Farm Income (Executive Calendar)
Issued
July 21, 2026
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Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. President, I don't see another Member coming to the floor. I want to read into the Record, but I want to tell the staff on both the Republican and Democrat side that if a Member comes over here to speak before I am done reading this, I would be glad to yield the floor immediately.
yesterday. “Iowa farm income fell 53 percent over 3 years, new ISU report says.”
Iowa farm income tumbled 53% from 2022 to 2024, squeezed by
record-high import costs, depressed corn and soybean prices
and continued trade uncertainty, a new report shows.
The pain is likely to continue through 2027, even with
Federal Government assistance—about $30 billion to U.S.
farmers last year and $45 billion this year—helping farmers
stay afloat, according to the report from Iowa State
University, the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa
Bankers Association.
The farm bureau released the report at a daylong economic
summit in Ankeny on Friday, July 17. Former U.S. Trade
Representative Bob Lighthizer and Greg Doud, CEO of the
National Milk Producers Federation and former chief
agricultural negotiator in the U.S. Trade Representative
Office, were among the speakers.
“This isn't the 1980 Farm Crisis, but the pressure is
mounting . . . and the effect will be felt across the broader
Iowa economy,” said Christopher Pudenz, the farm bureau's
economist, who presented the report along with [Iowa State
University] economists Chad Hart and John Crespi.
In June, President Donald Trump told Congress that U.S. farmers will need an additional $11 billion to help them survive market and trade losses despite a $13 billion aid allocated earlier this year. The $11 billion is not included in the study's tally of $45 billion in farm assistance this year, which includes direct aid, crop insurance supports and conservation payments.
Brent Johnson, the Iowa Farm Bureau board president, said
the proposed bailout doesn't solve the problems farmers face.
It will “lengthen the financial runway, but it's not a good,
long-term solution,” Johnson said in an interview.
Iowa and U.S. farmers need increased domestic and global
demand, he said.
Trump's ongoing trade war has slashed farm exports, most
significantly to China, the world's largest soybean buyer.
Iowa is the nation's largest corn, pork and egg producer, and
the second-largest producer of soybeans.
Johnson, who farms in northwest Iowa's Calhoun County, said
farmers have been willing to endure some pain for trade
gains. “But our ability to sustain pain is strongly
diminished because of the length of this,” he said, adding,
“We need a win.”
Here's what to know about the ISU-Farm Bureau study.
The report showed 19% of mid-size and large Iowa farms were
considered financially vulnerable in December 2025, more than
double the 7.7% identified in 2022, the authors said.
So far, though, the proportion of vulnerable farms remains
lower than [it was in] 2015 to 2019, the last long-term farm
downturn.
Last year, U.S. farm bankruptcies spiked 46% to 315, and in
Iowa, they more than doubled to 18.
A University of Missouri estimate shows Iowa farm income
climbed 60 percent last year, boosted by government payments
and strong returns on livestock, but “this is followed by
forecasted consecutive decreases in 2026 and 2027”. . . .
`'Farmers are weathering the downturn for now, but should the
current situation persist or worsen, the negative economic
effects will be felt throughout [the] rural communities and
Iowa's broader economy.”
“This is eerily reminiscent of what we went through 10
years ago” in the 2015 [to] 2019 downturn, Hart said. “The
question is: How long does it take for us to get farm income
back up again?”
Hart said Iowa farmers should work hard to cut production
costs that have spiked 37% since 2021 for corn producers and
36% for soybean growers. The largest increases were tied to
machinery expenses and seed, chemicals and fertilizer, the
report said.
“There are a lot of antitrust issues out there,” said
Johnson, the Iowa Farm Bureau president. “Our costs are
artificially high.”
The report said the 53% farm income decline “has not
triggered a collapse on the scale of the 1980s farm crisis,
but the steady tightening is straining Iowa farm businesses
and the industries and world communities tied to them.”
Farming in Iowa, along with industries tied to ag,
contributed on average $51.5 billion annually—or 19% of the
state's economy—from 2020 to 2024, the report stated.
“On average, one job in Iowa's agricultural-related
industries supported a total of 1.65 jobs” in the state's
broader economy, the report said.
Steady farmland values have bolstered the ag economy,
including supporting farmers' ability to borrow money for
their operations, though last year, Iowa farmland values
inched up less than 1% to an average of $11,549 per acre,
[the Iowa State University] reported in its annual farmland
survey.
Forty percent of the participants in the ISU survey said
they expect values to decline over the next year, while 82%
see values climbing over five years.
“If land values further soften, farm operations with a lot
of debt or farms relying on land equity to support operating
credit could face greater financial pressure,” the group
said.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.