Opinion

What Will Happen 

To All The Crops?

By Steve Rensberry

    EDWARDSVILLE -- 10-11-2025 -- I've been watching the fields take shape around Southern Illinois now that harvest has begun and I have to admit it worries me where all the corn is going to go, and the beans. 

    Is it going to rot in silos, get turned into fuel at double the cost, be the last crop some farmers ever harvest as bankruptcy and Great Depression level hardships move in? Is this it, the funeral is about over? 

    Are billions in bailouts going to be issued, robbing other areas of the country of funds that may be just as important? I'm not a farmer but many of my relatives are, or were, and many of my friends are. 

    The worse part is that none of this was necessary -- it's all tariff politics and tariff induced consequences, and neither China nor Brazil will be hurting one iota. You'd see smoke coming out my ears if I was a farmer. Is the fed gov trying to literally starve us of everything we need to live healthy lives, and to maintain healthy rural communities and places to raise our families? It's disturbing to watch it happen.