The fertile silt loam soils of LaRue County, Ky., serve as a bridge uniting the nine generations of Caleb Ragland’s farming family. This is a connection he hopes will extend in the years to include his three sons.
“My wife, Leanne, and I grow soybeans, corn, winter wheat and boys; they’re our most important crop,” Ragland says of his family and their 4,000-plus-acre grain operation that is based out of central Kentucky, near Magnolia.
If you have a conversation with the 38-year-old Ragland, you’ll find he doesn’t often stray far from the topics of farming and family, and the lines between the two blur as he looks out a farm office window and talks.
“I can look out across the field here, about a half mile, and see generations of my family buried over here on the hill,” Ragland says. “Our family settled here in 1808. Abraham Lincoln’s dad deeded land in this county the same month that our family did.”
Lincoln’s family left Kentucky for southern Indiana in 1816. Ragland’s family stayed put. “We’ve got deep roots here,” he says.
Natural Communicator
Ragland is hopeful his boys, ages 15, 13 and 10, will have the opportunity to be the 10th generation to farm the family’s ground. But he is concerned the mounting fallout from trade disruptions, high input costs and low commodity prices could deliver a death blow to that dream.
Those concerns are weighing on Ragland on an April morning as he sits planted in his farm office, juggling a variety of media interviews in his official capacity as president of the American Soybean Association (ASA). Though he would prefer to be on a tractor in the field or working around the farm, Ragland has done dozens of interviews in recent years with the media, most of whom are rooted in agriculture. But the general press has also come calling — from CNN and Fox News to National Public Radio — as they recognize the practical farming knowledge and savvy agricultural policy insights he can provide.
These days, Ragland has been addressing various topics ranging from trade dynamics to how rainfall is affecting the farmers who are located across parts of the Southeast. He reflects with dismay on a recent vote by the U.S. International Trade Commission that went in favor of imposing duties on imports of 2,4-D from China and India.
“That didn’t go our way,” Ragland says. “It’s a disappointing decision. It’s one that will probably double the cost of 2,4-D for farmers, and I’m not just taking a guess at that. Prices here locally have been going up over the past 12 months.”
Signs Of The Times
USDA reports net cash farm income is projected to increase to $193.7 billion in 2025, which would be up 21.7% year-over-year, thanks to federal aid — not because of better prices or increased commodity sales.
“Right now, it’s painful out here, and things don’t look good. That’s just being honest,” Ragland says. “With high input prices, unpredictable weather events and mounting uncertainty in trade markets, our farm is likely dealing with a $150,000 net loss for the 2025 crop.”
Ragland describes his farm’s budgets for the 2025 crops as bloody.
“When I ran budgets, full-season soybeans on my farm are in the red,” he says. “We raise a lot of winter wheat and double-crop soybeans, and that acreage with APH (actual production history) yields to break even shows corn is only slightly profitable.
“Due to the high cost of inputs and land and everything else across the board, we’ve had more risk than we’ve ever had and probably the least amount of potential profit in my farming career,” Ragland continues, noting 2025 marked the 21st crop he has put out on his own.
Staying The Course
Ragland voted for President Donald Trump in the past three presidential elections. While he doesn’t regret the decision he made, he does hope the president will make some trade decisions soon that will help bring financial opportunity to U.S. farmers.
“We need to be as proactive as possible about getting some trade deals done. We need some wins. We’re still very hopeful and optimistic that we will be able to get a phase-two type deal done,” Ragland says, referring to the Trump administration’s trade negotiations with China that occurred during his first term.
He says the U.S. exports about 50% of its soybeans and that China purchased 52% of U.S. beans exported in 2024. “So if you see a soybean field, every fourth row of soybeans went to China last year,” he says.
Trump’s trade-negotiation efforts have broad support from U.S. farmers, according to results from the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer survey that was released in early May. The survey indicated farmers are willing to endure short-term pain for long-term gain, according to Jim Mintert, emeritus professor of economics at Purdue.
“Fifty-six percent of farmers surveyed said they believe the ongoing trade disputes will likely hurt them financially in 2025,” Mintert says. “At the same time, 70% said they believe the U.S. and agriculture specifically will benefit in the long term.”
A Farm Bill Would Help
Ragland shares the survey’s sentiment and adds that getting a farm bill approved by Congress in 2025 would be a win for farmers.
“We desperately need it for ag and our rural communities as a whole,” he explains. “We need a stable farm economy so there is an incentive for our brightest and best to want to come back to the farm and not seek to go elsewhere. I want my sons to have an opportunity to farm, and I want other people’s children to be able to have that choice as well, but there’s got to be an economic opportunity to make a living.”
Your Next Read — Death Out of Order: A Remarkable Journey to Carry On a Family Legacy
