By Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House – Missouri’s 4th District
A Crisis Hitting the Heart of Rural Missouri
Across Missouri and the Midwest, farm families are carrying a weight that’s become unbearable. The suicide rate among farmers is roughly three and a half times higher than the national average. That’s not a statistic to debate. That’s neighbors, church members, and family. It’s decades of work, debt, weather, and policy failure landing on a single set of shoulders.
Trade turmoil is a big part of the pain. Tariffs and the retaliation they triggered closed doors in crucial export markets, especially for soybeans. When foreign buyers shift to Brazil or elsewhere, prices fall and bins sit full. That means cash flow dries up while input costs keep rising. Recent reporting shows how Trump-era tariffs and continuing trade friction made our crops less competitive and hit farm income hard—and when farm income falls, stress rises.
This crisis is also about access to care. Rural communities face fewer providers, long drives, and stigma that keeps folks from asking for help. When a season swings from drought to flood and debts stack up, it’s easy to feel alone. We have to meet farm families where they are with real support—funding for mental health services, farm stress assistance, and a 24/7 lifeline that understands agriculture.
Where Mark “Awful for Missouri” Alford stands
Missouri’s 4th District deserves a representative who puts family farms first. Mark Alford has chosen a different path. He co-sponsored the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act, a bill pushed by large industrial interests. The EATS Act would override state and local farm standards that many small farmers support and compete on. Dozens of farm and rural groups have warned Congress that EATS would undercut local decision-making and harm small producers while advantaging mega-operations. That’s not protecting Missouri’s independent farms—it’s preemption for the biggest players.
Alford has also publicly cheered party-line packages and farm bill drafts that advocates for small and beginning farmers say tilt the playing field toward large corporations and away from fair competition, conservation, and local food systems. You can read his own releases. You can also read the critiques from respected sustainable agriculture organizations. The pattern is clear: when policy choices split between family farms and corporate consolidation, he sides with consolidation. I won’t.
My promise to Missouri’s farm families
When I’m elected as your congressman, I will fight for fair, pro-farmer trade deals that reopen markets and keep them open—without using our producers as pawns. I’ll back competition and transparency so small and mid-sized farms aren’t squeezed out by monopolies. I’ll defend state and local standards that create market opportunities for Missouri farm families instead of wiping them out with one-size-fits-all rules from Washington.
I will also push to expand the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network, bolster rural behavioral health, and make sure every producer knows help is a call away. If you or someone you love needs help, dial 988 (press 1 for Veterans). You’re not alone.
We can’t bring back those we’ve lost. But we can honor them—by changing the policies that helped create this crisis and by building a future where a family can farm with dignity, stability, and hope.
Sources:
Farmers in US Midwest squeezed by Trump tariffs and climate crisis — The Guardian (Aug. 16, 2025)
NRHA Policy Brief: Suicide rates among farmers — National Rural Health Association (PDF)
Letter from farm organizations opposing the EATS Act — Farm Action Fund (PDF)
Rep. Mark Alford press releases (self-published records of positions)