New year brings new challenges for ag
By Allison Jenkins
The threats facing farmers in the new year are not insurmountable. And MFA is here to help.
Late fall is beautiful on my family’s rural property in Callaway County, Mo. Maples, dogwoods, oaks, sycamores, hickories and many other native deciduous trees paint the landscape with vivid colors. Now missing from that canvas, however, are the ash trees, whose yellows and oranges have been erased by an invasive pest, the emerald ash borer.
This tiny green beetle is responsible for major destruction, killing hundreds of millions of ash trees across the nation—including nearly all of them on our land and many other farms, forests, parks and towns across MFA territory. There’s no simple solution to control the emerald ash borer. In most cases, affected trees die and must eventually come down.
Like the emerald ash borer, complex challenges continue to change the agricultural landscape for Midwest farmers. While some of these struggles are familiar—like unpredictable weather patterns or fluctuating market prices—others are more recent developments that will require new strategies.
Emerging crop diseases—During the past growing season, the discovery of new plant pathogens in MFA territory is causing concern about their control and impact in the future. In 2024, corn stunt was discovered for the first time in both Missouri and Kansas, and the first cases of red crown rot, a yield-robbing soybean disease, were detected in Missouri as well. Though it’s been around for a few years, tar spot also continued to spread in cornfields throughout the region.
Election changes—With Trump’s return to the presidential office, the USDA will be under new leadership, which could be a wild card for farmers. As of press time, there was a short list of candidates for Secretary of Agriculture, including both familiar names and more obscure picks. Last time around, the ag secretary was one of Trump’s last cabinet members to be selected, so we may not know the outcome of that decision for a while. The election also helped to halt progress on the new Farm Bill, and there’s still no real timeline on when it will be released.
“The threats facing farmers in the new year are not insurmountable. And MFA is here to help.”
Economic concerns—With lower market prices for many crops and livestock sectors such as poultry, the third year of farm income decline is on the horizon, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). Net farm income, a gauge of profitability, is forecast to fall by 6% in 2025, though it may rebound modestly in 2026, FAPRI reported. The negative impact of reduced crop receipts outweighs the effects of high cattle prices and moderation of production expenses.
Unlike the plight of the ash tree, the threats facing farmers in the new year are not insurmountable. And MFA is here to help, from scouting and controlling new pests to using innovative technologies for increased efficiencies to making recommendations that can improve profitability. Let’s make a plan together.
With a new year and new season approaching, you can count on MFA’s whole-farm solutions to meet the looming challenges head on.