The ongoing trade and tariff disputes are impacting Wisconsin’s agricultural sector, with farmers reporting negative economic returns.
Tyler Wenzlaff, director of national affairs for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, says the costs associated with tariffs are hitting producers from multiple directions.
“It increases the cost of our inputs, it increases the cost of our machinery, and it increases the costs of everything that we do, really,” he says, noting that the squeeze on the industry has resulted in margins disappearing entirely.
“The margins have gotten tighter, they’ve gone to negative margins, where you’ve seen that every acre of soybeans that was planted had a negative return,” Wenzlaff says. Corn is also facing “super tight margins.”
While the Farm Bureau acknowledges and appreciates the Trump administration’s goals of increasing trade by using tariffs, there is an urgent need to see concrete results. Recent announcements of renewed Chinese soybean purchases, while a positive step, are not enough to restore the market.
Wenzlaff reminds us that the future purchase agreements are less than half of what China purchased before the trade war began.
The long-term fear is not just for the individual farm, Wenzlaff says, but for the entire rural economy. He warns that without economic relief, the pressures to consolidate will accelerate, leading to rural communities starting to suffer.
Learn more about the latest farmer relief package: https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2025/12/10/wisconsin-farmers-respond-to-usda-aid/
