The Spokesman sat down with Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson last week to discuss challenges facing farmers, including low commodity prices and high input costs, international trade and retaliatory tariffs, the farm bill and key tax provisions due to expire this year. Following are some excerpts from that conversation.  

Q:
What do you see as the biggest challenges facing farmers as they prepare for another planting season?


Johnson:
Top of mind for a lot of farmers right now, in one form or another, is profitability on the farm. We’ve been through an extended period of time when farm economics have been incredibly difficult, and it’s certainly showing itself. There are some real concerns out in farm country. In talking with different bankers and insurance agents, the conversations are just different right now with prices below the cost of production for many farmers.  

We’re all heading to the field soon, and to put in a crop that doesn’t look like it’s profitable right now is a significant stressor, especially when we’ve experienced record or near record high input costs for the past five years. 

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