A report from the Minnesota Post. "In 2018, Minnesota farmers earned, on average, their lowest net farm incomes in decades, according to a report by Minnesota State and the University of Minnesota Extension. Net farm earnings have declined in three of the last four years. Median net farm incomes dropped 8 percent between 2017 and 2018, from $29,022 to $26,055, the lowest they’ve been since the researchers started surveying farmers 23 years ago."

"According to Dale Nordquist, associate director of the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota, it’s the longest string of low incomes Minnesota farmers have seen since the farm crisis in the 1980s. As Minnesota farmers see another year of depressed profits, some in agriculture wonder if this is another farm crisis in the making: one like the crisis in the ’80s characterized by farmer suicides, bankruptcies, and farmers getting out of the business."

"The agriculture industry rode out the Great Recession on high crop prices. Demand was up everywhere. International markets like China and India were importing more and more from U.S. farmers, and ethanol producers drove demand for corn. In 2012, Minnesota farms saw record incomes as a drought took out crops in other Midwest states but spared Minnesota."

"High prices for crops like corn and soybeans enticed farmers to produce more of them. As supply rose, prices dove, Nordquist said. Though prices have stayed low, farmers continued to produce high yields. That allowed them to make up the income lost to low prices by selling more crops overall, even if the oversupply then reduced prices further, said Joe Mahon, regional outreach director with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. 'You end up with output prices that are near break-even and strong yields that offset some but not all of the effects.'"

"The price of soybeans declined before the tariffs hit, but they’ve dropped further since the trade dispute with China. As of Monday, soybeans were trading at $9 per bushel — roughly two-thirds of what farmers were getting per bushel in 2012."

"An acre can produce about 50 bushels of soybeans, Nichols said. At $8 or $9 per bushel, a farmer can take in about $400 to $450 per acre. 'To grow soybeans right now, you’re going to lose money. It’s just a cold, hard fact of life. You’re costs to grow that crop are going to be more than $400 an acre,' Nichols said."

"All told, 34 percent of Minnesota farms lost money on operations in 2018, according to the survey. Slightly more — 40 percent— lost net worth after accounting for family living expenses and taxes. Dairy farmers have been hit particularly hard, dropping to $15,000 net farm income in 2018 from $43,000 the year prior, according to the survey."

"Declining demand, low prices, and oversupply were the start of their troubles, only compounded by trade disputes. Many dairy farmers have gotten out of the business, selling their herds."

"Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen gets reports every other week showing 'sobering statistics' of how many farmers are getting notices to enter mediation with banks over defaults. He gets calls from farmers asking for help."

"'A farmer calls me on Monday and says, ‘The bank told me I need to sell half my cows by Friday to make my payment,' Petersen told MinnPost. 'You try to build it up during the good years and ride out during bad years. We’ve had too many bad years right now to have to ride out. That is a concern.'"

"'I’m very concerned as we get a little closer to spring, more farmers than in the past will be denied operating loans. What kind of crisis will we have on our hands?' Scott Carlson, executive director of Farm Legal Action Group, told MinnPost."

"The Minneapolis Fed reported increases in farm bankruptcies in 2018, a sign that farms can’t just keeping treading water. As farmers lose cash, they become more desperate for credit and they become riskier to lend to, said the Fed’s Mahon. 'Farmers made a lot of cash during the good years and they’ve had year after year of falling incomes and they’ve been eating into that cash. The nice situation would be that this reverses before that happens,' Mahon said. 'But there’s not a lot on the horizon to suggest it will.'"