What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Farmers in Future?

 Future Farm Problems: Can We Fix Them?

Climate Hits Farms Hard

Weather gets wilder every year. Droughts dry up crops fast. Floods wash away good soil. Heat burns fruits on trees. Frost comes at wrong times. A Texas peach farmer lost everything. His trees bloomed too early. Then ice killed all the flowers. No peaches that whole year. Corn yields drop in heat. Wheat dies without enough rain. Farmers can't predict seasons now. Insurance costs keep rising. Some land may never recover.

Money Squeezes Small Farms

Big farms buy more land. Small farms get pushed out. Equipment costs too much. A new tractor costs $500,000. Young farmers start deep in debt. Milk prices change every month. One bad year can ruin you. A Vermont dairy family quit last winter. They worked 60 years on that land. Supermarkets pay less than production costs. Chemicals and fuel keep getting pricier. Many farmers work second jobs now. Kids don't want this hard life.

New Rules, New Pests

Laws change faster than crops grow. Water use rules get stricter. California farmers fallow good fields. Bugs evolve to resist sprays. Florida oranges fight deadly greening disease. Weeds won't die from old herbicides. Consumers want different things now. Less meat, more plant foods. But switching crops takes years. Robot pickers may replace workers. But who will fix smart tractors? The future looks scary but hopeful.