Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared before the Senate, where lawmakers pressed her on a rising number of farm bankruptcies across the country. The questioning turned the hearing toward the financial strain facing American farmers and ranchers, and toward what the federal government is prepared to do about it. At the center of the exchange were figures suggesting that more producers are being pushed into bankruptcy, and a debate over whether the response from Washington is adequate.
The numbers raised in the hearing pointed to a worsening trend. Nationwide, Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies increased for the second year in a row, reaching 315 filings in 2025. That figure represents a 46 percent increase from 2024, a sharp jump that lawmakers used to underline their concern. The back-to-back annual rises were presented as evidence that the pressure on family farms is building rather than easing.
Other indicators cited during the testimony reinforced the picture of distress. In one state, calls to the Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline were said to be up 200 percent, a sign of how many producers are reaching out for support. On top of that, farmer-lender mediation notices were described as the highest they have been since 2019, suggesting that more farmers are entering the formal process that comes when debts and lenders collide.
With those figures on the table, lawmakers pushed for answers. They asked what actions the United States Department of Agriculture is considering to assist producers facing bankruptcy and to prevent the loss of more family farms. They also questioned why the USDA budget proposed eliminating the certified mediation program, a step that appeared at odds with the rising number of mediation notices and the broader strain being described in the hearing.
In her response, Rollins acknowledged the human weight behind the statistics, saying that even one bankruptcy is heartbreaking. At the same time, she sought to place the numbers in a wider context. She noted that there are 1.077 million farms and ranches in America, and said the bankruptcies amounted to about 0.03 percent of the total. The framing was meant to show the scale of the farm sector against the count of bankruptcies being discussed.
Rollins was careful not to dismiss the issue. She said she did not want to sit there and suggest it was nothing to worry about, adding that every farm is absolutely something that should be fought for and saved. She pointed to a concierge effort that the department has underway for the roughly 300 farms that are in Chapter 12, describing a targeted approach aimed at the specific producers caught up in the process.
She also drew a distinction about what Chapter 12 actually means for a farm. According to Rollins, being in Chapter 12 does not mean a farm is going out of business. Instead, she said, it means the operation is reordering, a form of restructuring rather than a final closure. The exchange left a clear tension on display, between lawmakers warning of a deepening crisis for family farms and an administration arguing that the figures, while painful, remain a small share of a vast agricultural sector.