THE CRAIG BUSHON SHOW INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
AMERICA’S FARMERS AREN’T JUST STRUGGLING. THEY ARE BEING SQUEEZED BY A SYSTEM THAT HAS MADE THEIR SURVIVAL OPTIONAL
There is no polite way to describe what has happened to the American farmer. The decline is real. The suffering is measurable. And the consequences stretch far beyond rural America. But this crisis is not the result of a single villain, a single corporation, or a hidden conspiracy. It is the predictable outcome of thirty straight years of policy decisions that favored consolidation, global supply chains, foreign capital, and corporate scale over the independent American producer.
The human cost is severe. In multiple rural states, male farmer suicide rates run two to five times higher than the general population. The CDC and state health departments have tracked this trend for years. Financial pressure, isolation, and the loss of identity that comes when a family farm fails all show up as recurring indicators. These are not abstract numbers. They are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters on land their families worked for generations. The system built for efficiency and corporate gain treats them as disposable.
To understand how we reached this point, you must look at the structure that now controls American agriculture.
Start with seeds and chemicals. For years critics claimed Monsanto owned ninety percent of all genetically engineered traits. That was incorrect, and correcting it matters for credibility. What Monsanto actually dominated was roughly ninety percent of the key engineered traits in specific high value crops like Roundup Ready soybeans and Bt corn. Bt corn is genetically engineered to contain a natural insect killing protein from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, which allows the plant to kill rootworm, corn borer, and other destructive pests without external spraying. Over time the entire industry shifted to Bt trait packages. Walking away from these seeds meant lower yields, higher pest losses, and financial collapse. That dependence hardened the lock farmers had on the corporations controlling these technologies.
But by the time Bayer bought Monsanto for sixty three billion dollars in 2018, the deeper truth was already in place. The global seed and chemical market had consolidated into four dominant corporate blocs: Bayer, Corteva which combined DuPont Pioneer and Dow, Syngenta Group which is now controlled by ChemChina, and BASF. Together, these four giants control roughly eighty percent of the U.S. commercial seed market.
And here is the part the public rarely hears.
It is not a monopoly. It is an oligopoly. And oligopolies are more subtle and more dangerous. A monopoly is one company controlling everything. At least you know who the adversary is. But an oligopoly is when a small group of corporations control the essential inputs of a system. They do not need secret meetings. Their collective dominance alone sets the terms of the market. Farmers do not negotiate prices with oligopolies. They accept conditions.
Farmers cannot easily switch seed suppliers. They cannot negotiate trait package prices. They cannot escape rising input costs. Abandoning the dominant trait platforms means yield loss that can bankrupt a farm. The system is designed so that the corporations always win and the farmer always pays.
Move from seeds to meat. The beef and poultry markets are controlled by Tyson Foods, JBS based in Brazil, Cargill, and National Beef. These four companies control more than eighty percent of all beef processing in the United States. When they decide what ranchers get paid, ranchers have no alternative buyers. When they raise retail prices, consumers have no alternative suppliers. During the pandemic, wholesale prices surged while rancher payments crashed. Congress acknowledged manipulation. The Department of Justice opened an investigation. Nothing significant changed. The packers pocketed record profits. Ranchers went bankrupt. Consumers paid record prices.
Then there is the land itself. Farmland is no longer treated primarily as a national resource. Wall Street now sees it as a stable investment asset. BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Farmland Partners have expanded their holdings. Bill Gates is the largest private farmland owner in the United States. Wealthy investors are not buying because they want to farm. They are buying because farmland generates rent, appreciates, and creates future leverage over a critical resource.
Add to this the rise of foreign ownership. Chinese linked entities own hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. farmland, including land near military bases. WH Group, a Chinese corporation, owns Smithfield Foods and therefore a large share of the American pork supply system. The Pentagon has repeatedly warned that no nation reliant on foreign control of its food inputs is prepared for geopolitical crisis or wartime disruption. Washington continues to behave as though these warnings are optional.
And you cannot understand the gutting of rural America without talking about NAFTA. In 1994, NAFTA was sold as a gift to American agriculture. In reality, it unleashed a restructuring that wiped out thousands of small and mid sized farms. Cheaper imports displaced domestic production. Processing facilities moved across borders. Grain markets repositioned themselves. Many family farms that endured the Great Depression and the 1980s farm crisis could not survive the post NAFTA globalized market.
The numbers tell the story. America had about two point two million family farms in 1990. By 2024 that number had fallen to around one point nine million. Farm size increased dramatically. The average age of a principal farm operator reached 59.5 years old. Young Americans are not entering the field because the economics no longer make sense.
The truth is simple. America built a system where every rational incentive pushed toward consolidation, vertical integration, foreign sourcing, and global arbitrage. Corporations did what corporations do. They pursued profit inside the rules they were given. The failure is in the rules.
While politicians talk sentimentally about rural America, equipment costs explode, land values skyrocket, input prices outrun commodity prices, and antitrust enforcement disappears. Farmers become price takers inside a system engineered by global corporations with no national loyalty.
There are signs of bipartisan awakening. Mandatory price reporting and packer transparency reforms are gaining traction in the Senate Agriculture Committee. Country of origin labeling for beef is returning to public debate. More than twenty states have either passed or are considering restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland. Populist pressure is building to regulate the seed and chemical oligopoly. These are real beginnings, but they are not enough.
Food security is national security. A nation that cannot feed itself cannot defend itself. A nation that outsources its food production has already surrendered part of its sovereignty. The American farmer is not a symbol of the past. The American farmer is a strategic asset. Losing control of our food system means losing control of our future.
WHAT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CAN DO RIGHT NOW
The scale of this crisis often leaves people feeling powerless. That is exactly what the system relies on. But millions of small actions piled together shift entire industries. Here is what Americans can do right now.
Buy directly from real farmers and ranchers. Farmers markets, community supported agriculture programs, direct to consumer meat producers, and regional food suppliers bypass corporate bottlenecks entirely. Every dollar spent this way goes to a producer instead of Tyson, JBS, Cargill, or foreign owned packing chains.
Support state level restrictions on foreign farmland ownership. More than twenty states have passed or are considering these laws. State legislators are far more responsive to public pressure than Congress.
Vote for leaders who take antitrust reform seriously. Support candidates who advocate for stronger antitrust actions, packer transparency, country of origin labeling, and rebuilding regional processing. If a politician never mentions these issues, they are not serious about saving American agriculture.
Demand country of origin labeling for beef. Americans deserve to know whether their food comes from Nebraska or Brazil. COOL has broad bipartisan support. Only industry lobbyists oppose it.
Reject the illusion of permanently cheap food. Cheap imports weaken domestic production and strengthen foreign supply chains. Paying slightly more to local producers is not charity. It is a strategic investment in national security.
Pressure retailers to carry more American sourced products. Corporations track customer complaints obsessively, especially those made publicly.
Support regional processing plants and butcher operations. The biggest bottleneck in beef and pork is the centralized processing system. Independent processors survive only when consumers use them.
Teach younger generations where food comes from. The average farmer is nearly sixty years old. If young Americans do not understand agriculture, they will never enter the field.
Support organizations fighting consolidation. National Farmers Union, Farm Action, state rancher associations, and regenerative agriculture networks are taking on corporate power directly.
Back local ballot measures that protect farmland. Counties and cities quietly rezone farmland for development. Showing up to zoning meetings matters more than people think.
Above all, reject the idea that this problem belongs to someone else. Every American eats. Every American relies on farmers. Every American pays the price when control of the food system falls into the hands of a few global corporations. This fight involves everyone.
A system built by multinational interests only wins when the public remains passive. The moment Americans engage, the balance of power shifts. The farmer has always been the backbone of this nation. Now the nation must choose whether it will stand with the farmer before that backbone is gone.
We do not just follow the headlines. We read between the lines to get to the bottom line of what is really going on.
Disclaimer
This investigative commentary is based on publicly available data, academic research, federal and state reports, and recognized industry analyses. It reflects the editorial perspective of The Craig Bushon Show. It should not be interpreted as legal or financial advice. Readers are encouraged to review primary sources and government data for further verification.
