The government shutdown stops USDA from administering farm subsidies, raising the specter of growing farm foreclosures. It also delays a bailout President Trump had promised for farmers impacted by tariffs.

Imagine working hard all year, long hours out in all kinds of weather, dangerous work, just to find yourself tens of thousands of dollars poorer at the end of it all. And then, next year, do it all again, and dig even deeper into debt.

That’s the situation many Midwestern farmers are in, because it costs more to grow corn and soybeans, and wheat than farmers can make selling them.

But through most of the last two years, farmers have all had a reliable partner, the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We always look at everything as tools in the toolbox, you know, and the USDA is obvious

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