A Farm Bureau report says 27 Iowa farms filed for bankruptcy during 2019. That’s up from just 14 farm bankruptcies the previous year. Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, says there may be more bankruptcy filings in the coming years as the federal government ends trade mitigation payments that supplement farm income.

Iowa and six neighboring states each marked decade-high numbers of farm bankruptcies in 2019. Hart says farm income has actually been on the rise, buoyed by 28-billion dollars in federal payments to make up for trade disruptions. He says those payments are not expected to continue, but the financial pressure on Midwestern farmers likely will.