One of my favorite photographs of my mom’s side of the family shows my grandfather and grandmother with their six daughters, although you see only five of the girls because the youngest is still in grandmother’s womb.
They are proudly posed in front of what was likely Grandfather Thornton’s most prized possession — a Ford Model T (probably a 1924 model based on photos I’ve found online).
Assuming my Aunt O.C. was born later that year, the photo was taken in 1926 or 1927.
Whatever the actual date, the photo was taken at a time when life was about as good as it would get for Webb Thornton. The Great Depression loomed.
My grandmother died in 1930, leaving Grandfather Thornton to provide for six daughters, ages 5 to 18, on a small cotton farm in Tippah County.
Mama was 12 when she lost her mother, so the family photo was one of the few images she had to remember her mom by. She said they kept the Model T during the Depression, although it was no longer driven by 1930. The car was mechanically sound, but my grandfather couldn’t afford the $10.25 cost of a car tag.
Welcome to the Depression.
By 1930, the price of cotton plummeted to an average of 9 cents per pound, a staggering drop from nearly 18 cents just two years earlier. This decline continued until it bottomed out at roughly 5.6 cents in 1931.
Today, nearly a century later, Mississippi’s farmers are facing a different kind of crisis, but one that is no less existential than the one my grandfather faced.
Prices for Mississippi’s “Big 3” row crops — soybeans, cotton and corn — appear to be sinking. Soybeans are forecasted at $10.30 per bushel this year, a 38% decline since 2022. Cotton prices compared to 2022 are down by 52%. Corn is down by 58%.
As planting season arrives, The American Farm Bureau Federation reported just last week that 70 percent of U.S. farmers will not be able to afford the fertilizer they need this year. In the South, that percentage is 78 percent.
Costs are soaring, profits are cratering.
There are many factors that influence the farm industry. Some of them – weather, disease, acts of nature – are beyond human control.
But much of what is happening to U.S. farmers now has President Trump’s fingerprints all over it. His policies are killing farmers, who have always been among his greatest supporters, a cruel irony if ever there were one.
Trump’s tariffs have reduced soybean exports by 20%, representing a $9.4 billion annual loss. Annual soybean exports to China fell to roughly 18 million metric tons in 2025 — a 32% decline. In 2025, Chinese imports of all U.S. farm products totaled just $17 billion, representing a 30% drop from 2024 and a more than 50% drop from 2022.
Trump’s policies toward Iran have made the front end cost of farming almost prohibitive.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz as part of Iran’s response, is currently blocked or severely restricted. The Persian Gulf region accounts for nearly half of global fertilizer shipments. The closure has created a massive bottleneck, making it nearly impossible for imported fertilizer to reach the U.S. as demand peaks for spring planting. New and existing tariffs on imports have further inflated the cost of chemicals and raw materials needed for domestic fertilizer production. Fuel costs are increasing at frightening speed, again thanks to the Trump War on Iran.
With break-even prices for crops like corn and soybeans now sitting near current market prices, many farmers are choosing to either reduce fertilizer application or cut acreage.
The future looks grim.
The Hard Times of the 1930s were defined by a lack of buyers; the Hard Times of today are defined by disastrous trade and foreign policies that make even a good harvest a losing venture. Remember, too, that no one knows what Mother Nature has in store for farmers.
In 1930, my grandfather’s Model T sat idle because he could not afford a car tag. In 2026, tractors risk sitting idle because farmers can’t afford the fertilizer required to make crops.
Hard Times are here again. The farmers are on their own…again.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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