Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Rise in Farm Bankruptcies

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has pushed people to think about perspective as they look at Chapter 12 bankruptcies that increased for farmers by 46% year-to-year.

"A quick note on that bankruptcy number,” Rollins told Fox Business. “Any time you hear that number, anyone should panic.”

Rollins doesn’t want producers to focus on the percentage increase. “Honestly, it went from 30 farms, I think, to 60 or 70 farms. So, the percentage looks tough, but out of over a million farms it's only about 0.03%."

U.S. farm bankruptcies highest since 2020

Perspective is valuable, of course. The 315 bankruptcies cited in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s analysis of the USDA and U.S. Courts data represented the highest since 2020. And for the farm families involved, they are no doubt deeply painful and a sign of the increased financial suffering for an expanding number of the remaining farm families.

But they are still far from the number of bankruptcies that plagued the country for a number of years. For example, they represent about 53% of the 599 Chapter 12 bankruptcies reported in 2019.

Rollins blamed the Biden administration for some of the economic hardship that farmers face. “We are acutely aware and very, very, very focused on the cost of inputs, and it isn't just in the last 30 days since the (Iran) conflict began,” Rollins told Fox Business.

During the Biden administration in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies lingered around 20-year lows.

Iran war raises costs for farmers

Price hikes for farmers and ranchers have been climbing since President Donald Trump authorized military strikes against Iran in February. Diesel prices are up about $2 per gallon. Some fertilizer costs have increased by 40%.  Gasoline surged 21%, its highest jump in nearly 60 years. And inflation hit 3.3%, the highest level in two years.

Rollins said that the administration is working to help lower costs.

“Food security is national security, and the President backs us up on everything that we can do make sure our farmers are supported,” she said during the Fox Business interview.

Warning about farm bankruptcies

Before much of the recent input cost increases had taken hold, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis economist Joe Mahon warned that economic conditions could push bankruptcies up higher.

Mahon told Minnesota Public Radio in March, “The commonality between what we're seeing right now and what we saw in the latter half of the last decade is sort of a prolonged period of strain on incomes starting to eat into savings,” Mahon said.

That strain could lead to more Chapter 12 decisions for farmers, Mahon believes. “That ends up resulting in a financial picture that causes more producers to look into filing for bankruptcy,” he said.

Arkansas, Georgia, and Wisconsin all saw Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies double from 2024 to 2025. 

RELATED: This Arkansas researcher has been tracking the rise in bankruptcies in his state and across the country.