Senate Seeks Assistance For Aging Farmers

This week, the Senate Special Committee on Aging heard testimony on the challenges facing aging farmers. Witnesses stressed that both the estate tax and profitability are hurdles to bringing a new generation to the farm.

Senator Tommy Tuberville, R - AL: “Your thoughts on this? Long as I've been up here, I've been advocating to permanently repeal the federal estate tax, which is often called the death tax. I know it means a lot for farmers, so just like we'll start with you, your thoughts.”

Aaron Locker, Kincannon & Reed: “Well, Senator, I think obviously you look at modern agriculture today. I mean, it is a massive investment. Even small farms, I mean, if you add up all the assets. And so anytime that that you want to pass that along to the next generation comes a significant cost and is in many cases cost prohibitive. And so yeah, doing away with the death tax. And I think we get we get you know, bottled in with, you know, other businesses and it's, it's going to be farther from the truth in terms of, comparable, that, you know, when you're passing along the farm business, it comes with, like I said, a lot of cost, a lot of assets. It takes a lot to run a farm today. And so doing away with the estate, the death tax, is the right thing to do to be able to continue to pass it down to the next generation. Otherwise it becomes cost prohibitive.”

Senator Raphael Warnock, D- GA: “What would you say that the tariffs and the uncertainty that's been created around the tariffs has made it worse, tougher for for even tougher in a tough business?”

Zippy Duvall, American Farm Bureau: “I think I think in the short term it has not really affected them yet. But when we get to this fall and they start selling their commodities and then and if the we don't have solutions to the tariff war, then we will have lost some markets that we have depended on for years. and then we'll start seeing the crisis hit.”

Jim Alderman, Florida Farmer: “It was just Mexico was coming after Florida tomato farmers right after NAFTA. Well, 20 years later they're growing pepper and squash and corn and beans and every vegetable we grow all the way up the East Coast all the way to Jersey and past. They're going to be competing with all of them, Mexico with all those products and their labor is I don't know, what are they paying $10 a day and we're paying $25 an hour. There's there's got to be some help with the the balance of trade. We don't want government to give us anything but get it. Get us on a level playing field with with Mexico and Canada.”

For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.

contact: Peter.Tubbs@iowapbs.org