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Farmers like me have always lived at the whim of Mother Nature. Agriculture is a risky business, and too much extreme weather — heat, frost, floods, severe storms, high winds and hail — can make or break a crop.
In recent years, we’ve been battling increasing challenges, and this season, although it’s only halfway over, has been especially tough. Farmers across the Midwest, the biggest producing region for U.S. agriculture, are gripped by the worst drought in more than a decade — and it’s showing little sign of letting up.
Drought in America’s heartland is worrying for farmers, since our livelihoods are directly tied to the weather. But it’s also bad news for consumers, who have already felt the pinch of high food prices for more than a year.
While costs have come down from last year’s peak, some analysts are cautioning that the current drought and other extreme weather events around the world could spur another round of inflation. This is troubling not only for the U.S. but also for people in developing countries where hunger and malnutrition have increased significantly in the past few years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and other global shocks.
These days, we farmers have some tools at our disposal to help produce crops even in difficult times. I remember the last big drought that hit the Midwest in 2012 — our Illinois farm was fortunate to survive because we had crop insurance that alleviated some of the cost of our lost production.
Since then, agricultural technology has continued to improve. Increasing use of drought-tolerant seeds, precision agriculture and conservation practices that enable soils to better retain water may help farmers who adopt these tools get through this season.
As extreme weather events become more frequent, farmers will increasingly rely on technology. That’s why we need to make sure the U.S. doesn’t fall behind when it comes to investment in agricultural research and development.
[ Editorial: Through the smoky air, the impact of drought clouds the Midwest ]
Importantly, this is an area in which the public and private sectors need to work together. Private-sector research investments in major U.S. crops including corn and soybeans have enabled farmers to significantly increase their yields in the past few decades. However, government-funded research — often conducted at universities, public laboratories and international organizations like CGIAR — also plays a major role.
The public sector often supports early stage research that can be developed later by private companies. Public research also investigates subjects that benefit society broadly but offer less direct market returns, such as food safety, environmental and animal health research, and research that may benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries and help fight global hunger and malnutrition.
Because of its multiple benefits, public funding in agricultural research has an extremely high return on investment — according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it returns $20 for every $1 spent. In spite of this, public funding for agricultural research has been declining in real dollars over the past two decades, even while support for other forms of research has increased.
The federal government needs to do more to reverse this decline and make sure that the U.S. remains at the forefront of innovation. China and Brazil already outspend the U.S. on public-sector agricultural research, according to a recent report from Farm Journal Foundation, putting American agriculture’s competitiveness at risk.
Chicago Tribune Opinion
Right now, Congress is working on a new Farm Bill, which generally comes up every five years. It’s a timely opportunity to act.
Congress could use the Farm Bill to incrementally increase funding at research agencies at the USDA over a number of years, similar to what has been proposed in the America Grows Act, another recent bill in the Senate. It could also increase funding for the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, a public-private partnership that has to date matched every dollar received from the government with $1.40 from a nonfederal source, often from the private sector.
While Congress debates what to include in the Farm Bill, farmers in the Midwest are holding vigil over their parched crops. We need solutions to help us adapt to increasingly volatile weather conditions — technology may be the key, but it also takes time.
It can take many years for scientific innovations to be developed until they’re ready for market, so we need to increase public funding for agricultural research and development now so that we can address current challenges and others looming on the horizon.
These investments are vital not only for protecting farm livelihoods but also for ensuring that consumers have access to abundant, affordable supplies of food at home and abroad.
Heather Hampton-Knodle is a farmer ambassador with the Farm Journal Foundation and president of the coalition American Agri-Women.
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