South Carolina Farm Financial Crisis

American Farm Bureau recently conducted a nationwide survey that revealed over 75% of farmers in South Carolina cannot afford to buy fertilizer for this planting season. Amidst an on-going conflict in the Middle East, fertilizer supplies have drastically decreased leading to a spike in prices.

The survey also showed:

• Urea (a critical fertilizer in SC) prices have increased by 47% over the last month and a half, marking the largest month-to-month percentage increase in the price of urea

• Countries exposed to the Middle East crisis account for nearly 50% of global urea exports and about 30% of global ammonia exports

• Farm diesel prices have risen 46% since the end of February

The most alarming statistic found in the survey was over 94% of farmers in South Carolina say their financial situation has not improved over last year, with 58% of them saying their situation is WORSE.

Repeated disasters, years of out-of-balance input vs. commodity prices, farmland loss, and a recent significant drought as we hit critical periods in planting season have created a perfect storm of generational challenges for our South Carolina farmers. The SC Dept. of Agriculture and SC Farm Bureau, working with Clemson University Extension and AFBF, estimate the last two years' losses on USDA-identified staple SC commodities below (not an exhaustive list of all crops):

In summary, losses across SC row crops (corn, cotton & cottonseed, peanuts, soybean & wheat) totaled -$379,446,470 in 2024 and -$324,900,036 in 2025 for a total of over $700M in losses over the last two years.

"Our farmers are in a desperate situation that is out of their control," said SCFB President Harry Ott. "We were already dealing with low commodity prices and now we have soaring fertilizer and fuel costs in addition to drought conditions across the state. If help doesn't come soon, the agricultural landscape will look very different in 2027."

The significant losses during the 2024 and 2025 crop years, coupled with the recent, acute geopolitical challenges, are causing South Carolina farmers to make tough decisions for this planting season.

The Farm Credit Associations of South Carolina, representing agricultural lenders with nearly 10,000 customers in our state, recently sounded the alarm, sharing, "As typical in the early part of the year, our farm customers have requested operating lines of credit from us over the past few months to pay for land, rent, seed, fertilizer, fuel and other farm inputs for 2026. Our borrowers' ability to qualify for financing is being adversely affected as consecutive difficult years have strained their liquidity, equity and cash flow needed to repay these lines of credit as well as make equipment and land payments. Tough conditions in the agricultural economy are expected to continue this year and we fear that, without support from the State, a number of South Carolina farmers could go out of business."

South Carolina farmers work hard to provide the food, fuel and fiber that supports our local communities, our state, nation and world. They are the backbone of our rural communities, supporting the small-town schools, churches and businesses that are so vital to our State. Without our farmers, the future of South Carolina's rural areas is bleak and the security dangers to outsourcing our food/feed supply chains are enormous.