If you ever wondered who is winning the war against American agriculture, the answer is basically everyone except the people actually growing your food. A new documentary from Turning Point USA's Frontlines series, as covered by Trending Politics, dives into the mess facing family farms along the southern border in New Mexico, and it paints a picture so bleak you might want to hug the next farmer you see.
The 17-minute film interviews multi-generational ranching and farming families in southern New Mexico who are getting squeezed from every conceivable direction: rising fertilizer costs, cheaper imports flooding in from Mexico, and (here's the fun part) drug cartels allegedly laundering money through legitimate agricultural businesses. Because apparently running a cartel empire wasn't profitable enough without also getting into the onion game.
Luna County Magistrate Judge Scott Chandler and County Commissioner Colette Chandler appear in the documentary to lay out the cartel agriculture theory. "When they're using trafficking human money or trafficking drug money to buy hay farms, buy onions, buy chili, and then send it to us, American companies can't be expected to compete against that," Chandler said. Hard to argue with that logic. Your average New Mexico farmer is not working with the same operating budget as an international criminal syndicate.
The Chandlers contend that as border enforcement has reduced illegal crossings under President Trump's second administration, criminal organizations have pivoted toward legitimate industries to launder money, with agriculture being an attractive vehicle because commodities are easy to move and always in demand.
But cartels are only one piece of the puzzle. Farmers in the film also point fingers at trade policy, specifically NAFTA, which they say crushed domestic prices overnight. Second-generation farmer Don Hartman remembers it well. "We used to grow jalapenos here for 16 cents a pound," Hartman said. "When they passed NAFTA, they immediately dropped the price to nine cents because they could get it cheaper down there." Nearly cutting your revenue in half will ruin your day.
One farmer summed up the emotional toll with a line that deserves to be on a bumper sticker: "I love bloody fingers and dirty fingernails. It's the not being able to pay my bills part that gets to weighing pretty heavy."
The documentary cites the USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture, which found more than 140,000 farms closed nationwide, with New Mexico suffering the largest percentage decline of any state. Meanwhile the biggest agricultural operations just keep getting bigger, because nothing says free market like an industry where only the giants survive.
Third-generation farmer Colvier Montes proposed seasonal tariffs to protect American growers during harvest time. "When the American farmer, we should have priority in this country. And we don't. That's wrong," Montes said. He also noted that U.S. farmers face stricter environmental and labor regulations than many foreign competitors, which is a polite way of saying the playing field is about as level as a mountain road.
Ranchers also took aim at the meat processing industry, arguing that a handful of massive companies pocket most of the profits while producers struggle. Consumers see higher prices at the grocery store and assume farmers are rolling in cash. They are not. The money apparently evaporates somewhere between the pasture and the checkout lane, which is a magic trick nobody asked for.
So to recap: cartels, trade deals, fertilizer costs, consolidation, and regulations are all teaming up against family farms. At this rate, the only thing not trying to put American farmers out of business is the weather. And let's be honest, the weather is not exactly on their side either.
Read more breaking news stories at: Trending Politics News
