Beth Ford’s phone buzzes during a board meeting. Then again. And again.
She glances down. It’s another farmer. The message is short, but it carries the weight of generations:
“Beth, I don’t think I’m going to make it. I’m going to use up the equity meant for my next generation.”
This is a fourth-generation farmer. Maybe fifth. Someone who’s done everything right — invested in technology, improved yields, worked dawn to dusk for decades. And they’re about to lose everything.
“It’s devastating,” Ford says quietly, sitting in conversation at the Economic Club of Chicago.
As CEO of Land O’Lakes, one of the largest farmer-owned cooperatives in the country, she gets these messages more often than most Americans would believe.
“I tell them: You haven’t done something wrong. You haven’t done something wrong.”
But that doesn’t make the crisis any less real.
The Perfect Storm
U.S. agriculture is facing what Ford calls a gathering storm — a perfect confluence of forces pushing family farms to the breaking point:
- Three consecutive years of losses for most farmers
- A 70% increase in debt stress since 2016
- Land prices up 45% (impossible for the next generation to afford)
- Rising input costs with diesel prices soaring
- A strong dollar weakening exports
- Consolidation so severe that only 23,000 dairy producers remain in the entire U.S.
But there’s one factor that keeps coming up in every conversation Ford has with farmers, one issue that threatens to collapse the entire system: labor.
The 30-Year Partnerships
Ford was with her board when immigration policy began dominating the news. She took a walk with a few farmer-members and asked them about tariffs.
“We want to give them some time,” one said, referring to trade policy. “But I’m most profoundly worried about the immigration issue.”
Then his voice changed. It became emotional.
“These are people who have been with us for 30 years. We’ve raised our children together.”
This is the reality most Americans don’t see: the immigrant workers who milk the cows, harvest the crops and keep American farms running aren’t strangers. They’re partners. They’re neighbors. They’re family.
“The farmers don’t have a business without some of these partners,” Ford explains. “And that’s the way they think of them.”
The Math That Doesn’t Add Up
The numbers tell a stark story:
- Two-thirds to three-quarters of agricultural workers are foreign-born
- 45% of those are undocumented
- Without adequate labor, 30% of produce in California’s Central Valley ends up rotting on the ground
Think about that for a moment. Nearly one-third of the food we could be eating — food that farmers invested money, time and hope into growing — is left to rot because there aren’t enough hands to harvest it.
“There’s no mechanization to switch to,” Ford points out. “You can’t just invest in robotics to come in and help with this produce. There’s not an alternative.”
And it’s not for lack of trying to recruit U.S. workers.
“It’s just very difficult work, and in general, that’s been very difficult to attract American citizens to,” Ford says carefully.
One of the most frustrating aspects for dairy farmers is the seasonal nature of current visa programs.
“Cows are milking every day, multiple times a day, 24-7, 365,” Ford explains. “You can’t have a seasonal partner there.”
Year-round visas would help. But even basic reforms seem impossible.
“I’ve been in with the last two presidents. I’ve been in senators’ offices, in Congress,” Ford says. “Everybody agrees. Everybody knows that we need immigration reform.”
But nothing happens.
What Farmers Actually Talk About
When Ford sits at kitchen tables in barns across America, farmers don’t just talk business.
“Most of the time, they’re talking about their family,” she says. “What’s going on with our kids? What’s going on with the school? What’s going on with health care?”
Recently, she was in southern Minnesota with a multi-generational farm family. She asked why so many were working multiple jobs.
She’d been in situations before where farmers couldn’t feed their own families. In fact, 80% of the counties in America that are food insecure are in rural America.
But this farmer said it wasn’t about food.
“It’s health care,” he told her.
The Auction That Says Everything
Ford’s chief of staff grew up on an Iowa farm. Recently, there was an auction for a neighboring farm.
Four hundred people showed up to bid.
Only two were local farmers.
The rest? Private equity firms. Land management companies. Investors who see farmland as a financial asset, not as the lifeblood of a community.
This is what happens when farming stops being economically viable for families. The connection between the land, the people, and the community — the thing that made American agriculture strong — starts to disappear.
Food Security Is National Security
Ford has been vocal about something most Americans don’t think about: food security is national security.
When the Strait of Hormuz closed recently, projections showed 46 million more people globally would become food insecure.
Rural America makes up 19% of the U.S. population but provides 44% of our military service members.
“These are people who are feeding us, who are defending us,” Ford emphasizes. “We should want these families, these communities, to have the right investments, the right roads, the right schools.”
Yet 22% of rural residents still lack access to high-speed broadband. Health care facilities are closing. Schools are underfunded. Young people are leaving.
“We are taking it for granted,” Ford warns. “That is a real challenge.”
The Innovation Paradox
U.S. farmers have achieved remarkable things. On the dairy side alone, they’ve increased milk production by 39% while cow numbers are up approximately 2%.
How? Genetics. Feed optimization. Technology. Innovation.
“They’re the most productive farmers in the world,” Ford says with genuine pride.
Land O’Lakes is investing heavily in AI-powered platforms, precision agriculture tools and data analytics to help farmers.
But though robotic milkers and other technology can help with the labor shortage, Ford points out they are an costly upfront cost. She recently visited a young dairy family who had invested in robots and was barely breaking even.
The Trade Uncertainty
As if farmers didn’t have enough to worry about, trade policy adds another layer of uncertainty.
USMCA — the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada — has been beneficial. Canada and Mexico are the U.S.'s No. 1 and No. 2 trade partners.
But here’s the problem: The U.S is now the one upending the agreement, not our trade partners.
Farmers need stability. They need to know the rules. They need to be able to plan.
“It’s very difficult to understand how they’re going to operate their businesses without some clarity,” Ford says.
Meanwhile, 20% of U.S. agricultural production is exported. When trade relationships are uncertain, farmers can’t make the long-term investments they need to stay competitive.
What Needs to Happen
Ford doesn’t just identify problems — she advocates for solutions. As chair of the Business Roundtable’s Immigration Committee, she represents the business community on one of the most contentious issues in American politics.
Her approach is refreshingly straightforward: Talk policy, not politics.
“I meet with Democrats and Republicans and Independents,” she says. “I feel like compromise seems a dirty word at this point. It’s the only way to get anything done.”
The solutions are clear:
- Year-round visa programs for agricultural workers
- Pathways for long-term workers who’ve been with farm families for decades
- Stability in trade agreements, especially USMCA
- Completing the broadband infrastructure promised in the bipartisan bill
- Health care access in rural communities
- Recognition that when farms fail, entire communities suffer
“We need to recognize that universal agreement should not be the measure of progress,” Ford says. “Sometimes you have to say we’re trying to move the ball down the court. We’re going to make progress.”
The Call
Ford ends her conversation at the Economic Club of Chicago stating, “I’m doing the most important work of my life, and I can’t wait to get after it.”
Her phone will buzz again. Another farmer in crisis. Another family facing impossible choices. Another generation wondering if they’ll be the ones to lose the farm.
But she will be there. At the kitchen tables. In the barns. In the senators’ offices. Fighting for the people who feed America. Because she knows that when farmers text her saying they won’t make it, it’s not just about one family — it’s about the future of food security, rural communities and the fabric of U.S. agriculture itself. And that’s a fight worth having.
