During this planting session, farmer Jay Huggins didn’t have much to complain about.
The 37-year-old row crop farmer planted his corn and soybeans with minimal challenges. He didn’t battle drought or excessive weather conditions on his 1,000-acre farm in Okolona, Mississippi. His harvest this year didn’t leave him “in the red.”
“The fields I’ve been farming for years did excellent. No replants or anything like that,” Huggins said. “This is one of the best years I’ve seen in the last two years.”
Yet, he still had to pay the price elsewhere.
He’s picked up more expenses. He says he pays three times more for fuel and purchases 100 pounds less of potato and sulfur for his soil.
As a result, he’s had to cut back on how much he grew – and the expenses have cut into his revenue. For example, Huggins hauls his crops between Mississippi and Georgia. With fuel costs as high as $6 a gallon and gaining about only $1 more for a bushel of corn, there’s not much left.
“Bringing down the fuel and bringing down fertilizer, a farmer can make it,” he told Capital B.
For farmers like Huggins, relief may be available soon.
Last week, the United States Department of Agriculture announced the Harvest Fuel Relief program, a one-time payment to farmers who suffered losses due to increased costs and market disruptions as a result of the tariffs and President Donald Trump’s trade war. This comes only days before the midterm elections and is seen by some as a last-ditch effort for Republicans to garner votes from farmers – many of whom voted for Trump and have expressed frustration with this administration.
The payments will be calculated using a formula based on planted acreage and other cost production estimates. Eligible farmers include those who plant Title 1 commodities such as soybeans, corn, and wheat. Additionally, specialty crop growers and fishermen will be considered.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the relief will help “bring certainty to our farmers during this harvest so they can continue to feed our nation.”
But this late into the harvest season, it may be a little too late, Huggins said.
“If you divide $8 billion by every row crop farmer in America, they’re not gonna benefit much from it,” Huggins said. “It’s gonna be pocket change to farmers that are already in the red. A lot of farmers who lost their farm, then it’s too late, and basically just free money or something you can vacation on because that’s what it’s gonna boil down to.”
While any relief is better than nothing, the current proposal leaves out many other producers and ranchers, who have also had to shoulder additional costs because of the market, Juan Quinonez Zepeda said.
Two years ago, Quinonez Zepeda, a researcher and rancher, could buy cattle for $800 a piece. This year, it is at least $1,600, he said. The 27-year-old – who started his family ranch in 2024 in Senatobia, Mississippi – expected farming to be expensive, but not at the rate he’s seeing it now. He runs a stock operation, so it’s more to send cattle to stockyards. There’s an increased rate for bailing hay, feed, and imported fertilizer – and dealing with public health risks like screwworm.
For folks like Huggins and Quinonez Zepeda, it all adds up.
Beyond his ranch, Quinonez Zepeda travels across the state to meet and support farmers. He’s consistently hearing that many farmers and ranchers are simply fed up with the current climate and it’s impacting their operations.
“As a young person, I have to decide: Do I want to continue to invest in this operation and keep this alive, or do I start thinking about the other big milestones in my life?” Quinonez Zepeda said.
He’s previously applied for USDA grants to alleviate the burden, but has not received any.
“And then you don’t receive any support. There’s executive orders that have come out to support ranchers that have caused a lot of confusion,” he said. “It stirs up a lot of misinformation and you don’t know what this is going to result in for us, so it’s a lot of uncertainty.”
Back in Okolona, Huggins isn’t fixated on government funding. As a farmer, he’s expected to be in debt and he’s not afraid of it.
“You’re gonna have debt until the day you die. Only person that can’t pay a bill is a dead man,” Huggins said.
