More farms nationwide filed for bankruptcy in the first three months of the year this year than across the entirety of 2024. That’s according to new research from University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture extension economist Ryan Loy, which also shows that the 259 filings in the first three months of 2025 are the most in any year since 2021.
“‘We’ve had 259 filings in the United States so far this year,’ Loy said,” according to reporting from the U of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Mary Hightower. “‘And that’s just through the first quarter of this year. We’ve already beat last year in terms of national filings,’ he said. ‘Once you see this on a national level, it’s a clear sign that financial pressures that we saw before in 2018 and ‘19 are kind of reemerging.‘”
“A large part of the pressure stems from the fact that ‘commodity prices are back at levels where they were in the 2018-2019 era,’ said Scott Stiles, extension economics program associate for the Division of Agriculture,” Hightower reported. “Adding to the pressure cooker are input costs — seed, fertilizer, pest management tools and diesel — that never seem to decline much or for a long period.”
“‘There are (also) concerns about the trade environment that we’re in,’ Stiles said,” according to Hightower’s reporting. “‘There have certainly been a lot of weather challenges.’”
AgWeb’s Margy Eckelkamp reported that “with higher input costs and lower commodity prices, row crop farmers have used cash reserves and working capital.”
“‘It tough because it’s [working capital] already been burnt through, and that’s your first offense against commodity price volatility,’ (Ag Resource Management’s Ashley) Arrington says,” according to Eckelkamp’s reporting. “‘I saw last year when cash was really starting to get depleted, and some people who should have addressed their problems last year, kicked the can down the road. And then this year, we can’t get anything done for them because it’s just too far upside down.’”
“…When asking ARM farmer customers who didn’t renew business with the ag lender the reason why, it wasn’t because they switched lenders,” Eckelkamp reported. “‘When we were asking that question, ‘why haven’t these people applied with us again?’ one of the biggest reasons why is they were no longer farming, and that’s the largest amount I’ve really ever seen in my career,’ Arrington says.”
Lancaster Farming (Pennsylvania):
Wind energy is a significant economic driver in rural America. In Iowa, for example, over 60% of the state’s electricity came from wind energy in 2024, and the state is a hub for wind turbine manufacturing and maintenance jobs.
For landowners, wind turbines often mean stable lease payments. Those historically were around $3,000 to $5,000 per turbine per year, with some modern agreements $5,000 to $10,000 annually, secured through 20- to 30-year contracts.
Nationwide, wind and solar projects contribute about $3.5 billion annually in combined lease payments and state and local taxes, more than a third of it going directly to rural landowners.
These figures are backed by long-term contracts and multibillion‑dollar annual contributions, reinforcing the economic value that turbines bring to rural landowners and communities.
Wind farms also contribute to local tax revenues that help fund rural schools, roads and emergency services. In counties across Texas, wind energy has become one of the most significant contributors to local property tax bases, stabilizing community budgets and helping pay for public services as agricultural commodity revenues fluctuate.
In Oldham County in northwest Texas, for example, clean energy projects provided 22% of total county revenues in 2021. In several other rural counties, wind farms rank among the top 10 property taxpayers, contributing between 38% and 69% of tax revenue.
The construction and operation of these projects also bring local jobs in trucking, concrete work and electrical services, boosting small-town businesses.
The U.S. wind industry supports over 300,000 U.S. jobs across construction, manufacturing, operations and other roles connected to the industry, according to the American Clean Power Association.
Renewable energy has been widely expected to continue to grow along with rising energy demand. In 2024, 93% of all new electricity generating capacity was wind, solar or energy storage, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration expected a similar percentage in 2025 as of June.