Farmers Face One of the Highest Rates of Suicide. This Social Worker Believes the Solution is Buried in Their Land

(4/10/25) The Guardian newspaper describes how a social worker in Kansas has developed the LandLogic Model, a new way to train healthcare providers that uses farmers’ relationship to their land to identify and treat depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues within a population that suffers from higher-than-average rates of depression and suicide. Highlights:

• The social worker, Kaila Anderson, has found that aerial photos or hand-drawn maps of farming operations serve as unthreatening tools that therapists or family doctors can use to start a discussion that eventually reveals a farmer’s underlying emotional struggle. “The common denominator,” she said of farmers, whether they grow corn or soybeans, or run a dairy operation, “is the land.”
  
• Anderson’s work is built on that of Michael Rosmann, a psychologist and Iowa farmer. He is considered one of the creators of an emerging field of medicine and wellness called “agrarian behavioral health.” At the core of agrarian behavioral health is understanding why farmers farm and why they despair when they cannot. Rosmann’s own surveys found that farmers considered the loss of the ability to farm, or even the threat of such a loss, equal to the loss of a child.
• Through LandLogic, Anderson is advancing the Rosmann’s agrarian imperative by using the land itself in treatment. In training sessions, Anderson describes LandLogic as “a cultural adaptation of cognitive behavioral therapy designed for the agricultural community.”

LSP has developed a Farm Crisis Resources web page. In LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast episode 235, farm advocates offer advice on dealing with agricultural stress, and how we can work together for a brighter future. For more on LandLogic, click here.

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Minnesota Farm Incomes Decline Again in 2024

(4/3/25) Morning Ag Clips reports that median net farm income for Minnesota farms dropped to $21,964 in 2024, marking the lowest level this century. Highlights:

• According to new data from the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State, farm profitability has significantly declined since 2022. The average Minnesota farm experienced a reduction in working capital, limited net worth growth, and minimal profitability for the year.
• Crop producers experienced the greatest financial difficulties in 2024. These farmers lost about 25% of their working capital last year and had to dip into cash reserves to make loan payments. Cash crop sale prices were down 20% or more for major crops in the state.
• The outlook for farm profitability remains uncertain for 2025 as a result of concerns about a trade war, high interest rates, and general economic uncertainty.

LSP’s Farm Beginnings Program offers opportunities for learning how to integrate holistic financial management into an agricultural business.

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This is Why Canada has Plenty of Eggs — and the U.S. Doesn’t

(3/18/25) While U. S. consumers are faced with record high egg prices as a result of avian flu outbreaks, Canadians don’t face massive shortages,  reports National Public Radio. Highlights:

• One reason avian flu outbreaks have not hurt Canadian farmers as much is that their operations are much smaller than egg-laying operations in the United States. The typical egg farm in Canada has about 25,000 laying hens, whereas many farms in the U.S. have well over a million. Experts point out that in the massive U.S. operations, a single outbreak in one facility can have a much larger impact than it does on a single Canadian farm.
• The typical egg farm in the U.S. has quadrupled in size since the late 1990s. “These companies aren’t making tons of money per egg,” said poultry economist Jada Thompson. “They’re selling a lot of eggs.”
• Canada has a supply management system which guarantees even small egg farmers enough income to stay in business. “There is less incentive to grow because I can make money at this size,” said Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, in Ontario. “There’s still an incentive to be efficient. But there’s not a requirement to get as big.”

The outbreak of avian flu has shown yet again how vulnerable our food and farm system is as a result of consolidation and the growth of mega-CAFOs. One way to support a more resilient, diversified livestock production infrastructure is by revitalizing local processing operations. A recent LSP blog describes one such initiative taking place in Minnesota. For more on LSP’s community-based food systems work, click here.

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Sizing Up Fertilizer Imports and Potential Tariffs Implications

(4/10/25) An Ag Economics Insights analysis shows that a 10% import tariff would increase fertilizer expenses for a typical corn crop by 3.4%, or $5.17 per acre. Highlights:

• The three main sources of crop nitrogen — anhydrous ammonia, urea, and urea ammonium nitrate — account for roughly the same share of the U.S. fertilizer market. However, they can vary widely when it comes to how much of that fertilizer is produced domestically, and how much is imported.
• Around 11% of anhydrous ammonia is imported, while 32% and 33% of urea and urea ammonium nitrate, respectively, is brought in from other countries, for example.
• Two other key fertilizers — phosphorus and potassium — are particularly vulnerable to price increases due to a potential trade war. Thirty-four percent of our phosphorus is imported, and a whopping 94% of our potassium comes in across the border.

For information on how to build the kind of soil that is less reliant on purchased fertilizer inputs, check out LSP’s Soil Builders web page. A recent LSP blog discusses how regenerative ag can help bring our dysfunctional relationship with fertilizers back into balance.

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Phrases Newly Banned At USDA Include ‘Safe Drinking Water’ and ‘Climate Change,’ Leaked Memo Reveals

(4/3/25) “Water conservation,” “carbon sequestration,” and “tile drainage” are just a few of the 100+ words and phrases now banned at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), according to Sentient. The ARS is the research wing of the USDA, overseeing over 600 research projects and 2,000 scientists, some of whom study issues such as how building healthy soil can help make farms more resilient. Highlights:

• A leaked memo written by a USDA official appears to state that staff are forbidden from submitting agreements and other contracts that use any of the forbidden words, according to Sentient.
• Besides any wordage related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” restricted phrases include “climate change,” “climate resilience,” “climate smart agriculture,” “carbon pricing,” “water pollution,” “air pollution,” “soil pollution,” groundwater pollution,” nonpoint source pollution,” “rural water,” “water quality,” “PFAS,” “clean water,” “safe drinking water,” and “field drainage.”
• “The leaked list of terms currently circulating was created by career employees tasked with reviewing active awards to ensure compliance with the President’s priorities and relevant Executive Orders,” a USDA spokesperson told Sentient in a statement.

LSP will continue to work toward creating a farm and food system that’s good for the land, people, and communities — even if it requires using banned phrases.

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The $20B Question Hanging Over America’s Struggling Farmers

(3/28/25) Farmers and ranchers across the country lost at least $20.3 billion in crops and rangeland to extreme weather last year, but there are concerns that the bulk of the USDA’s disaster payments will go into the pockets of industrial-scale operations raising commodities like corn, cotton, and soybeans. according to Grist. Highlights:

• Texas experienced the highest losses for the third year in a row. Extreme drought, excessive heat, and high winds took out more than $3.4 billion worth of crops like cotton and wheat, and damaged rangeland. Flooding cost Minnesota some $1.45 billion in corn, soybeans, and forage, among other crops. California’ agricultural sector lost $1.4 billion to extreme weather.

• Congress authorized nearly $31 billion in emergency assistance to help struggling producers. But the funding pot the agency plans to distribute makes up just a third of the assistance Congress approved. That $10 billion is intended for farmers growing traditional commodities, such as corn, cotton, and soybeans, and is available to those who experienced most any kind of loss, not just those stemming from extreme weather. Payouts are determined by multiplying a flat commodity rate, based on calculated economic loss, with acres planted. It significantly limits eligibility, said Billy Hackett, policy analyst at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and funnels help away from smaller farmers into the pockets of industrial-scale operations.

LSP’s Farm Bill platform calls for, among other things, a reform of the federally subsidized crop insurance program so that it supports small and medium-sized farms that are utilizing climate-smart practices. In episode 299 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast, we discuss work LSP has been doing to help farms survive (and thrive) in the age of climate change. 

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Grief Brought her Back to Western Minnesota. Now She’s Helping Restore Her Hometown

(4/7/25) A Minnesota Public Radio feature describes how Kris Shelstad has moved back to her hometown of Madison, Minn., and transformed a 15,000-foot vacant concrete block building into a hub of community activity. Highlights:

• Madison Mercantile includes a for-profit coffee shop, and also serves as a venue for numerous community organizations to meet on a regular basis. Music lessons, an art gallery, a recycling center, and a community garden are all part of the mix. There are plans to put in a commercial kitchen for local food producers.
• Shelstad moved from Texas back to the town of 1,500 people after her husband, Rick, suddenly died. She had retired after serving 30 years in the military and wrote grant proposals and gathered enough funding to remodel the building, which was a former lumberyard and hardware store.
• “It was going to be a coffee house and art gallery, but then community members came in and said, ‘Hey, you should do this,’ and ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we had that,’ ” Shelstad told MPR.

Madison Mercantile has served as a gathering spot for several recent LSP community organizing meetings centered around community food systems, local democracy, and rural economic development. Episode 284 of LSP’s Ear to the Ground podcast features a conversation with Kris Shelstad. In episode 347, LSP organizer Scott DeMuth talks about the importance of building the kind of rural communities that are attractive to returnees as well as newcomers.

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