Declining farm income, reduced equipment sales, rising inventory and financing pressures, and trade uncertainty all create ripple effects that impact farmers and the communities they are a part of. A recent hearing with the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship highlighted the impacts of these issues. Jay Funke, past chairman of the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association (INEDA), said he drew on his experiences as he testified before the committee.
Funke said farmers are working as hard as possible to provide food and fuel for the world, but their efforts alone are not enough to overcome these issues without proper government action.
Funke said communities with populations under 10,000 feel these issues more severely than others.
Funke also noted that these small communities need to be able to retain younger workers and farmers to keep the local economies afloat into the future.
For more information, visit ineda.com.
