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Heartbreak as farmers struggle to stay in business

The vice president of Minnesota Farmers Union is seeing heartbreak across rural America as farmers struggle to stay in business.

Bryan Klabunde says he encountered a woman at a recent farm show in southwest Minnesota who told him her dad is a farmer in his 70’s trying to hang on.

“And she started to break down crying. She told me her brother is 29 and wants to get into farming (while) her dad is going broke. (she said) she doesn’t want her brother to have to get into this situation, and we both started crying at that point.”

Speaking to Brownfield at the Minnesota State Fair Thursday, Klabunde says he broke down because he hears that story too many times and doesn’t want to hear it anymore.

“It was her family’s legacy, and she meant it. She was reaching for any kind of information she could get to help her dad.”

Klabunde, who grows corn, soybeans and small grains in northern Minnesota, says his family can relate with others who are barely making ends meet during this period of low farm incomes.