Farmers’ financial troubles are rippling through rural Kansas, with plummeting incomes and dwindling spending taking a heavy toll on Main Street businesses. As U.S. farm incomes are forecast to plunge 25% in 2024, the effects are particularly acute in the state’s wheat-producing regions.
In the tiny town of Concordia, Kansas, Brady Peterson’s restaurant Pete’s sits nearly empty during what should be a bustling Saturday lunch rush. Normally filled with farmers ordering fried chicken and cheeseburgers, the restaurant now struggles as farm incomes thin. Sluggish sales have cut Peterson’s income so severely that he can’t afford to run his home air conditioner or buy a suit for a close friend’s funeral.
Across the region, business owners report revenue declines of 20-30% compared to the previous year. Megan Jensen, owner of Meg’s Grooming and Pet Salon, fought back tears as she described the predicament: “We’re a farming community, and the farmers just don’t have the money to spend. Every penny I own is invested in this. If I fail, I’m homeless.”
The pain is especially acute in Kansas, the nation’s top wheat-producing state. Two years of severe drought, coupled with nationwide farm economic issues like high input costs and lower crop prices, have sapped money from surrounding communities. Farmers and local officials warn that small cities in the region risk becoming “ghost towns” as the agricultural downturn spreads.
Nationally, farm income is forecast to fall 25% in 2024, the largest annual decrease in dollar terms. In Kansas and other prairie states, the downturn has been even more severe, with farm incomes projected to hit their lowest levels since at least 2010.
As the financial strain on farmers deepens, the ripple effects are devastating small businesses and communities that have long depended on a thriving agricultural economy. The future of rural Kansas now hangs in the balance.