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Grassley: Low commodity prices, lack of farm bill partly to blame for ag equipment layoffs
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says the rising number of layoffs in the ag equipment industry shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“You can’t expect farmers to buy a lot of new equipment when corn is losing $50 or $60 an acre. Some people are suggesting maybe even $100 an acre.”
The Iowa Republican tells Brownfield the lack of a new farm bill has also played a role. “If we passed the farm bill yesterday, it wouldn’t improve these prices overnight, but it’s the uncertainty of not having a five-year farm bill that I think has made these layoffs even worse than it would otherwise be.”
Workforce reduction has occurred at John Deere, Kinze, and Precision Planting in recent weeks. Ziegler Ag also announced some store closures in Wisconsin and Missouri.