American farmers are having trouble navigating a financial maize. U.S. farm debt is the highest its been since the 1980s when the agriculture community was last in calamity. The amount of debt has risen to over $400 billion, and loan demand is "historically high," per Reuters.The current crisis is being caused by weakness in commodity prices, weather damage to crops and a loss of profitable export markets like China, Reuters reports.President Trump announced last year that the government would supply $12 million in aid to farmers in order to offset economic losses from tariff hikes. But farmers have made it clear they would rather trade relations go back to normal than receive a bailout from the government.
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The Week