Agriculture

Indiana’s agricultural economy is struggling under Republican leadership.

We deserve elected officials who will help Hoosier farmers- not hurt them.

Farming is more

expensive

than ever.

In recent years, the cost of owning and operating farms (especially small homesteads) has skyrocketed.

And while our Republican elected officials claim they’re fighting for farmers, their policies say otherwise.

GOP leaders on the local, state, and federal levels have supported tariffs that are raising the cost of farming across the country.

These tariffs are also weakening the export market for many of Indiana’s cash crops.

Keep reading to learn how.

Tariff-induced price increases on equipment, fertilizer, and other farming equipment are putting a strain on local family-owned farms.

A recent study from NDSU showed that many farmers are facing pass-through rates of 150% to 348% on fertilizers due to new tariffs and market uncertainty under President Trumps’s economic policies.

New data from the American Farm Bureau suggests that the operating cost of soybeans, Indiana’s largest agricultural export, is expected to increase by $20 per acre.

The average farm size in Tippecanoe County is 343 acres, so local soybean farmers can expect to pay over $6,860 more in operation costs in 2026 than they did in 2025.

Not only are soybeans becoming more expensive to produce, but the export market is becoming increasingly unstable under GOP leadership. President Trump’s volatile trade policies with China rocked the soybean market in 2025, and forecasts for 2026 soybean exports show that it will be increasingly difficult to sell US crops to our long-time trade partners.

US Representative Jim Baird has been a long-time supporter of Trump’s tariffs on China, and has even acknowledged that he knows it will hurt farmers in Indiana.

Market projections for 2026 show Indiana’s Net Farm Income to drop significantly in 2026 compared to 2025.