-By Hank Reichle, Staplcotn President & CEO

ROW CROP FUNDAMENTALS are mired down by geopolitical uncertainty, acreage expansion, sluggish demand growth, and the confluence of yield-enhancing technologies paired with void of weather calamities. There is no scarcity within any row crop that can be the rising tide that lifts all boats in the complex. These underlying themes have been present for the better part of two years now and are the reason farmers are plagued by low cash selling prices. This comes at a time when costs to farm are barely off the all-time highs of 2022 that were inspired by accelerated general inflation, Russia’s war with Ukraine, and high commodity prices. Now that commodity prices have collapsed, farm revenues are well below break even for most operators – even with strong yields and government support. Hence, all the push last year and this year has been for Congress and the Trump Administration to provide better safety nets to replace the insufficient ones in the 2018 Farm Bill, emergency economic assistance, and improved markets through trade deals.

FOR MANY FARMS, the 2025 row crop season will generate the second, third, or fourth consecutive year of substantial losses. And as is the case with many family businesses, once behind, it is difficult to climb out. Despite the increased support from Congress and the Trump Administration, too many farmers will be calling it quits after the 2025 harvest. Most who exit will do so voluntarily, but others will unfortunately go out involuntarily. Those exiting voluntarily are doing so because they don’t see what is going to change in the row crop sector’s structure that can generate enough improvement to warrant putting their remaining farm equity at risk. That’s why an immediate positive change in demand is so imperative to ensure that as many of our farmers as possible (along with their critical infrastructure) remain in business. Clearly, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with its updates to farm support, was a huge, long overdue win and we are all grateful. Further, the Trump Administration’s signal that another round of ad hoc economic support is coming gives farmers hope they can weather the storm a little while longer. But in the longer term, we must find our way out of the storm and find a path of economic sustainability on our nation’s farms and preserve our rural communities.

PRESIDENT TRUMP LOVES TARIFFS: he sees them as a means of achieving many of his key policy objectives, including revenue generation, made in America, and better market access abroad for American products including agriculture. The tariffs are a current disrupter and promoter of uncertainty, but President Trump has assured U.S. farmers that they will be positive for them in the end. If these tariffs do not somehow result in an increase in critical global market access and/or strengthened U.S. domestic demand opportunities, U.S. agriculture is inching closer to falling even farther behind the likes of Brazil, who is expanding its agricultural infrastructure and acreage at astonishing rates. In just 10 years, Brazilian-harvested soybean acreage has increased by 44% according to USDA. This nearly 37 million additional soybean acres adds production equivalent to three additional Iowa soybean crops. These new soybean acres come from converted grassland in the center-west region of the country, where double cropping is possible and corn and cotton are the two most popular second crop choices. Consequently, Brazilian corn and cotton harvested acreage have increased 29% and a staggering 120%, respectively, over the past decade. Yield has improved too. The bulk of this new Brazilian production, especially in the case of soybeans and cotton, must find a home abroad just like U.S. grown soybeans and cotton. The U.S. is close to a point of no return in which we will lose a significant portion of our row crop infrastructure to Brazil’s expansion (and Argentina’s too, by the way). Someone else will be the breadbasket of the world, which lessens our national ability to ensure global food, fuel, and fiber security. For corn and soybeans, which together make up almost 60% of U.S. row crop acreage, improved domestic demand will most assuredly be rooted in the U.S. renewable fuels sector, improved access to importing markets, and restored market access to China. For cotton, we need maximum global market access and a stronger competitive advantage over polyester. But we also need something akin to the renewable fuels legislation that taps into our nation’s robust buying power. The U.S. boasts the largest retail apparel market in the world, and cotton continues to enjoy a large share of it. The Buying American Cotton Act (BACA), introduced by Senator Cindy Hyde Smith (R-MS) in May of 2025, will guarantee that the U.S. cotton industry does not fade out of global and political relevance under the weight of foreign polyester and cotton fibers. BACA provides brands and retailers selling to U.S. consumers an incentive to nominate U.S. cotton in their products (see BACA article on page 4). As a result, cotton’s share in apparel and home textile products offered in the U.S. will rise and more of that cotton will be U.S. grown and processed. With U.S. retail demand for cotton nearly 20 million bales, offtake from the U.S. cotton crop will rise back to at least 16 million bales compared to the 13-14 million we struggle to achieve with today’s market dynamics. BACA will leverage the National Cotton Council’s new public awareness campaign, “Plant Not Plastics,” by lessening the cost to convert part of the fabric blend away from microplastic pollution-causing polyester to cotton grown in the U.S.A. THE U.S. ROW CROP ECONOMY is under immense pressure that is leading to consolidation and reduction in infrastructure, both of which will have an increasing detrimental impact on the families and communities involved. Southern row crops may be the most vulnerable of all, especially when it comes to cotton and the crops that need it for rotation (i.e. peanuts). The recent and ongoing price support efforts of Congress and the Trump Administration are appreciated and have kept a terrible situation in U.S. row crop agriculture from becoming a national calamity. But, for long-term success, work must be done to carve out U.S. demand domestically and abroad. The U.S. cotton industry and Staplcotn are focusing our efforts on reclaiming demand for U.S. cotton. So, farmers, don’t give up on cotton just yet! I am confident that our industry is innovating and evolving Row Crop Price Support is Critical and new solutions to our challenges