Pride alone won’t keep our family farms alive
This op-ed was originally published in The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead
By Tim Deal
March 20, 2025
As a fourth-generation Minnesota farmer, I take great pride in the work I do every day to help feed this country. But pride doesn’t pay the bills.
Across rural America, family farmers are struggling to stay afloat as costs skyrocket while prices for our crops remain stagnant. If we don’t act now, the future of American agriculture will be at risk.
That was the message I brought to Washington last month when I testified before Congress on behalf of America’s sugarbeet and sugarcane growers about some of the challenges we’re facing back home on the farm. What we do isn’t just about supporting our families — it’s about ensuring a reliable, sustainable food supply for all Americans. Congress can help support our rural communities and secure our food supply by passing a strong five-year Farm Bill now. It’s already two years overdue, and farmers cannot wait any longer.
Sugarbeets are a critical crop here in Minnesota. The Red River Valley produces more sugarbeets than anywhere else in America. Our farms and our factories are an essential part of our rural communities, sustaining nearly 21,000 jobs in Minnesota — many of which are union jobs and manufacturing jobs in towns where they are needed — and driving more than $3 billion in annual economic impact.
But more and more, the economics of farming simply don’t add up.
As part of a cooperative of 450 sugarbeet growers in Minnesota and North Dakota, I see financial strain every day. In the past year, the price of sugar has dropped more than 10%.
Meanwhile, our costs for the inputs we need to grow our crops are only now coming down slightly from record highs. Because we as farmers also cooperatively own the factory that turns our sugarbeets into sugar, we also have to cover those operational costs and invest in constant capital improvements to stay competitive.
All of these costs — higher labor, fuel, fertilizer, and equipment prices — are piling up, and they’re falling squarely on the shoulders of farmers like me as well as the next generation of farmers.
As things stand, the Farm Bill safety net hasn’t been updated since 2018 and is woefully out of sync with today’s economic realities. If Congress does not pass a Farm Bill that provides a meaningful update to these policies, including U.S. sugar policy, many of us will struggle to continue financing our operations.
Soon farmers from Minnesota and other sugarbeet and sugarcane states will head to Capitol Hill to share with Congress the stark reality our farmers are facing and encourage them to put America’s farmers first by passing a strong Farm Bill.
For sugarbeet farmers in the Red River Valley, we are fortunate to be represented by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Tina Smith (Minn.), John Hoeven (N.D.) and Kevin Cramer (N.D.). I appreciate Sens. Klobuchar, Smith and Hoeven for giving me an opportunity to speak before the Senate Agriculture Committee and share the story of my farm and my family.
All four of these members understand the pressures facing our farm families and that if we want to continue to feed America, we need a Farm Bill that supports the people who make it all happen. We are counting on their leadership to move this conversation forward.
The closure of sugar processing facilities — like the one in northeastern Montana two years ago or the last remaining sugar mill in Texas last year — should be an urgent wake-up call that we cannot allow U.S. sugar policy to be weakened. When these facilities shut down, communities lose jobs, farmers lose a valuable part of their livelihoods, and America loses domestic food production.
Right now, the stakes couldn’t be higher — not just for family farmers like me, but for every American who depends on the food we produce.
Let’s make sure that the Farm Bill reflects the true needs of family farmers and ensures that we can continue to feed this country and have the opportunity to pass our farms on to the next generation. Because right now, pride alone won’t keep our family farms alive.
Tim Deal is a fourth-generation farmer from Doran, Minnesota. He has served on the MinnDak board since 2012 and the American Sugarbeet Growers Association (ASGA) board since 2016.
