MITCHELL, S.D. - 2025 brought another unprofitable harvest in the Heartland, where soybean farmers were already dealing with high equipment and fertilizer costs due to inflation and tariffs.

Kevin Deinert grows soybeans and corn and also raises cattle on his family's farm near Mitchell, South Dakota Kirk Siegler/NPR

Kevin Deinert farms the same land his great-great-grandfather did near Mitchell, South Dakota, about 80 miles from the Iowa state line.

"I'd be probably the fifth generation, I've got sons, that'd be the sixth that possibly would want to take over the farm," Deinert says over the hum of his tractor.

Lately it's a fight to just stay in business one year to the next, never mind legacies. Deinert is 38, in a thick, worn hoodie, his brown hair cut short. He climbs out of his tractor and onto the slush in front of four-story high grain bins.

They're still full of soybeans.

"Too full," he says.

Deinert is hoping to store them a few more months, hang on until maybe prices go up and there's a new trade deal with China, historically the Dakotas' biggest buyer.

"We haven't seen anything in writing, and until we do it's hard to get overly excited, we're optimistic," he says.

Read the rest here.

That breaks my heart for these farmers that work so hard every day and now they are on the edge! So sad! America needs to wake up...help the farmers! But LOCAL! Prayers for them 🙏