>Economic death spiral - Arkansas farmers are caught between record-high input costs (fertilizer, diesel, equipment up due to tariffs) and collapsing crop prices (corn, basedbeans, wheat at 2020 lows; rice down 40% from last year)
>Self-inflicted wound - Arkansas overwhelmingly voted for Trump despite experiencing this exact scenario during his first term when tariffs triggered retaliatory measures from China and other countries, forcing a taxpayer bailout
>Immediate crisis - Farmers could lose $1.4 billion this season, with bankruptcy filings surging and estimates that 1 in 3 farmers nationally could go under without immediate relief
>The irony of timing - Congress passed aid that doesn't kick in until 2026, leaving farmers begging for emergency payments now while insisting they "don't want handouts, just free markets"
Consolidation endgame - As family farms fail, private equity and large corporations (including foreign-backed entities) are positioned to buy up the land, fundamentally changing American agriculture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_N3g986TiE