Policy experts predict small, specialty farms will be on the losing end of the latest federal agricultural bailout meant to offset farmers' losses from rising production costs and the market disruptions from new tariff policies.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $12 billion relief package allocates $1 billion to specialty crop and diversified farmers, and the rest to major row-crop producers.
Success Okafor, policy fellow at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, said the plan appears to reinforce large-scale agriculture or "monoculture" systems rather than supporting diversified and specialty farming approaches, which he said are more resilient in the long run.
"Small and mid-sized, diversified farmers, organic growers, specialty crop producers often struggle to access programs like these," Okafor pointed out. "The paperwork, the deadline, they tend to just favor large-scale commodity producers."
Wisconsin has thousands of farms focused on specialty crops. Farmers have until Dec. 19 to produce their 2025 acreage reports. The USDA said those who qualify can expect payments to be released by the end of February.
Okafor is working to quantify the economic value of diversified farming practices like extended rotations, cover crops and agroforestry to translate into policy recommendations for the upper Midwest. He noted farmers who implement sustainable practices often do not see financial rewards in the marketplace even though they deliver far greater total economic value to society.
"Diversified farming systems can deliver two to four times higher total economic value per acre than the conventional monoculture," Okafor emphasized.
Okafor added his work aims to bridge the gap between farmers' practices and policy by providing evidence diversified systems represent a smarter investment of public dollars. He advocated for agricultural policies prioritizing farmers' actual needs.
"If we get the incentives right, we can move billions of dollars in public spending towards systems that keep farmers profitable, communities healthy, and landscapes resilient," Okafor stressed. "That's the kind of economics that feels worth doing."
