Arkansas loves Donald Trump. In fact 65% of the voters who cast ballots in the 2024 Presidential election voted for Trump, up from 61% in 2016. Agriculture (farming) is a huge industry in Arkansas and many farmers voted for Donald Trump.
Well, folks, we have entered the FO phase of FAFO.
4029 News reports that there has been a massive uptick in farmers filing for Chapter 12 bankruptcy. Only 45 farms filed in the entirety of 2024, which seems about average. Well, 2025 has been exponentially worse for farmers - a shocking 88 had filed for bankrupcy by the end of Q1 2025!
Arkansas Senator John Boozman said: “Our farmers are really struggling. If you're growing something, unless you're in the cattle business, it's going to cost you more money to grow the crop than you can sell it for."
Chapter 12 bankruptcy is different than Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 (the more common ones individuals use for either straight discharge or debt reorganization). Chapter 12 allows farmers and fisherman an "opportunity to make and execute a plan to repay all or part of their debts."
Boozman is quick to throw blame exactly where MAGA thinks it belongs: Joe Biden.
He said: “The last administration was not very good on trade. Now we're going through the tariff issues and things. All of that's going to settle down. And we're going to be creating some new markets."
So Biden caused all the problems, but bankruptcies were down under his administration for 4 years. Trump has been in office 6 months and set off a firestorm of trade market fluctuations with his on-again off-again tariffs and bankruptcies are exploding, but that is no big deal.
Did I get that right?
FAFO. You are getting exactly what you voted for, Arkansas farmers.
