By Dan Wagner, President and CEO, Farm Credit Mid-America
Arkansas’s farmers are operating in one of the most challenging environments in decades. A combination of low commodity prices, high input costs and unpredictable weather has created very difficult farming conditions for several years — particularly in the Delta. As financial pressure mounts, producers are cutting back, delaying investments and, in some cases, facing the reality that another season may not be sustainable. What these farmers do not need is the continued uncertainty of federal policy delays.
That’s why the release of a draft Farm Bill by U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman on Tuesday is an encouraging and important step forward. Farmers across Arkansas and the country welcome this progress and appreciate Chairman Boozman’s leadership in advancing the conversation around modernizing farm policy to better reflect today’s realities.
The draft Farm Bill released by Chairman Boozman is an important starting point. More work remains to ensure a final bill can earn the bipartisan support needed to pass and deliver lasting certainty for agriculture.
Congress now has a critical opportunity to provide America’s farmers — including the more than 37,000 farming operations across Arkansas — with the stability of a full, five-year farm bill they have lacked since the 2018 Farm Bill expired in 2023. While temporary extensions, ad-hoc assistance, and agricultural provisions in H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, have helped fill the gaps during that time, they are no substitute for comprehensive, long-term policy that farmers can depend on. That’s why the Senate’s work to advance a bipartisan Farm Bill matters so much — to Arkansas and to the nation.
Agriculture is Arkansas’s largest industry, contributing more than $20 billion to the state’s economy annually. It supports more than 531,000 jobs, generates $30.6 billion in wages and produces $14.5 billion in taxes, according to the 2023 Feeding the Economy report. When Arkansas agriculture struggles, its rural communities, local businesses and consumers feel it.
I see these challenges and opportunities firsthand. Farm Credit Mid-America serves more than 145,000 customers across Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee — including more than 3,300 in Northeast Arkansas. Last year, our loan volume to Arkansas farmers grew to $1.3 billion, supporting everything from operating expenses and land purchases to equipment, livestock and on-farm improvements. Much of that capital supported small, young and beginning farmers who are building agriculture’s next generation.
While a strong, modern farm bill provides critical support to young, beginning and small farmers who represent agriculture’s future — everyone involved in the industry stands to benefit from its passage.
As the Senate continues its work, there is an opportunity to strengthen the safety-net and risk-management tools producers rely on to recover from floods, droughts and other extreme weather, navigate market disruptions and plan through global uncertainty.
One of the most important provisions in Chairman Boozman’s draft bill would modernize U.S. Department of Agriculture credit programs. Farming costs have risen sharply since Congress passed a Farm Bill in 2018, and this draft — like the House-passed bill — increases Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) guaranteed loan limits to $3.5 million for ownership loans and $3 million for operating loans. These updates better reflect today’s cost environment and help ensure farmers have timely, practical access to the capital they need to operate and grow.
Farm Credit Mid-America works alongside FSA to expand access to credit, particularly for young and beginning farmers. Thoughtful updates in a final Farm Bill can make these partnerships and programs even more accessible and effective for the producers who need them most.
Supporting agriculture also means strengthening the rural communities where farm families live and work. This is why we have been a reliable partner to rural communities in ways that go far beyond financing for decades. We were encouraged to see the draft Farm Bill includes a provision to provide Farm Credit lenders with the regulatory certainty needed to participate in USDA loan programs that deliver crucial financing to rural communities.
Arkansas farmers are represented by leaders in the House and Senate who understand the importance of agriculture and the Farm Bill to the state and the nation. The House of Representatives has done its part, and the Senate — under Chairman Boozman’s leadership — is moving the process forward. Now is the time to build on this draft, work across the aisle and deliver a bipartisan Farm Bill that can be signed into law.
Arkansas’s farmers, and the communities and consumers who depend on them, cannot afford to wait any longer.
This opinion editorial was originally published in the Jonesboro Sun on June 25, 2026. It is republished here with permission.
