Hard times felt by High Plains communities
Farmers, ranchers and rural communities across Kansas are really feeling squeezed these days.
High gas and grocery prices are straining everyone’s budget, but it’s an especially difficult situation for producers being hit with the sky-high cost of diesel fuel, fertilizer and other necessities while at the same time seeing their export markets upended and beef processing operations disrupted by federal agents sweeping through southwestern Kansas in pursuit of undocumented immigrants.
Some of us remember what conditions were like a few decades ago when farm foreclosures and auctions started making headlines. My father was getting ready to retire at that time and I was considering the possibility of taking over the operation as he scaled back. The farm had been in our family since 1859 when my great, great grandfather settled there after wrangling a team of mules to pull a freight wagon along the trail to Santa Fe and back.
A farm provides an anchor for a family, even when some of those raised there move away. As the last in line to continue the family tradition, it was difficult for me to accept the notion that it might end with me. But after a year in which we seriously considered how we might proceed with this generational transfer, my father and I came to the same conclusion. As Dad put it: “It didn’t pencil out.”
This was in 1979, the year the American Agriculture Movement members organized a tractorcade to Washington. They spent the night in our hometown and we followed the news as they made their way on to DC. Farmers were really upset and they soon got more angry when President Jimmy Carter issued a grain embargo on Russia after their invasion of Afghanistan. The consensus seems to be that this decision was pivotal in making Carter a one-term president.
Americans in general may not have understood the challenges farmers were facing, but media coverage of farm auctions and protests generated more awareness and a significant level of sympathy. In 1984, feature films like Places in the Heart and Country tugged at heartstrings as they hit theatres around the nation, drawing attention to the plight of family farms. Having made the transition from a food producer to a video producer by that time, I put together a 60-minute documentary addressing the subject, which aired on PBS stations around the country.
Featuring three Kansas farming families, Tomorrow’s Harvest reflected on the changes they had experienced from generation to generation and what the future looked like to them. Barry Flinchbaugh, the agricultural economist from K-State, provided his perspective on the prospects for farmers: “I won’t be the least surprised in the year 2000 to find the family farm alive and well, but there will be many fewer of them than there are now.”
That’s certainly been the trend over the past few decades: Fewer farms that continue to grow in size. But even larger operations now have critical challenges to deal with as tariffs increase the price of machinery and supplies and disruptions caused by an extended conflict in the Middle East have resulted in exorbitant fuel costs. The recent attempt to bring down beef prices for consumers by arranging for the tariff-free importation of beef from abroad has also demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to the long-term relationship of trust between consumers and producers.
As I monitor social media and see what consumers are saying about all of this, I see less sympathy expressed for the situation food producers are facing now. The most common observation appears to be something along the lines of: “They got what they voted for.” That’s quite different from the response to the farm crisis of the 1980s. If there’s any truth to it, will we see a different message sent by way of the ballot box in November?
Toward the end of the debate between Roger Marshall and Adam Hamilton at the Kansas State Fair this month, Dave Bergmeier, editor of The High Plains Journal, posed an important question to these two candidates for the U.S. Senate: “Mental health and stress are always high occupational hazards in agriculture and they certainly are very evident in today’s environment. What is your message to the farm families and all Kansans who are facing these challenges?”
Each candidate was given 60 seconds to respond. Marshall, the incumbent, went first, referencing the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: “If you’re a farmer … if you’re anybody out there struggling with mental health, you can call 988. We lose more farmers every year from suicide than we do to farm accidents.” He also recommended that neighbors look out for each other: “If you see one of your fellow farmers struggling, reach out and help them.”
In his response, Hamilton shifted the focus back to the root causes of the stress producers are currently experiencing. Referencing a group of five young farmers he met with recently, he noted they are all struggling, accusing his opponent of inaction: “These are people who are in mental health distress and you’re not doing enough about it — you’re not fighting for them by ending the war, by ending the tariffs, by making sure they have what they need….”
Following the debate, Sen. Marshall’s office issued a press release indicating that he sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins: “urging the Trump administration to work with Congress to provide temporary, targeted relief for farmers and ranchers facing rapidly rising diesel costs during the 2026 harvest season.”
A more recent press release from Marshall’s office announcing the passage of the farm bill out of committee includes a statement that would likely gain universal agreement: “Kansans don’t have the luxury of playing politics with their livelihoods, and neither should Washington.”
My family made the decision voluntarily to make an exit from production agriculture. For many families trying to keep things going today, it’s becoming more and more difficult to do so.
Dave Kendall is managing producer of Prairie Hollow Productions, Dover, Kansas.
