Farmers, ranchers say government shutdown is putting pressure on Indiana agriculture

Hoosier farmers and ranchers gathered Wednesday to say that ongoing uncertainty, including government shutdowns and rising costs, is putting a lot of pressure on Indiana’s agriculture, one of the state’s biggest economic drivers. At a press conference, longtime farmer and rural advocate Kent Yeager said rising production costs have completely changed the way farmers run their operations. “Inputs are so expensive anymore,” Yeager said. “It’s changed dramatically over the last 25 or 30 years in how much it costs to raise a crop. It makes it really easy for that number to be negative if we don’t have good prices, and those prices are affected by a lot of things we can’t control.” Yeager said the lack of clear market and government data, combined with the ongoing federal government shutd