A recent report takes a look at tariffs and the impact on American agriculture this year and next. John Appel (uh-PELL), Vice President of Category Management with Farmers Business Network, says their report indicates old inventory in the supply chain kept some input prices relatively low in 2025.
“All of that channel inventory has been depleted, and all of the inbound product that’s come into the US since that time has been subject to tariffs of varying extents, right? And so we know that now that’s structurally part of the cost in the market already in the channel today, and so that’s going to be felt by farmers going forward into 2026 here.”
Appel says with tariffs not appearing to go away anytime soon, expect even higher input prices in 2026.
“Right after we released the report, there was another additional 100% tariff floated on China, right? So that one’s still in the air, but we know, you know, right now it seems like that baseline 20% tariff, that’s been pretty much a fixture. And so what’s been moving up and down has really been the reciprocal tariffs, and that’s gone from 10% all the way up north of 100% right? And so that’s the that’s the piece that is kind of a moving target, but we think that at least that 20% and additional tariffs are probably going to be part of the part of the math going forward.”
Appel advises the best strategy for farmers will be to lock in prices and supply early.