On the 2nd Day of Decline, the Iowa GOP Gave Us… A Silver Medal for Farm Bankruptcies

DES MOINES, IA – On the second day of Christmas, Iowa farmers didn’t receive two turtle doves. They were gifted second place for the most farm bankruptcies in the nation this year. 

According to a recent Des Moines Register report, Iowa farmers have filed the second-largest number of bankruptcies in the country during the first six months of 2025 — already doubling as many as last year and the highest level since 2021.

Joseph Peiffer, a bankruptcy attorney in Cedar Rapids who’s worked with farmers since the crisis in the 1980s, said he’s seen “extreme financial distress” across Iowa at a “level higher than I’ve seen in a long time.”

Three years of falling profits are hitting Iowa farms hard, and the latest numbers paint a grim picture:

• Iowa data through October show 18 farm bankruptcy filings. That’s the largest number since 2020.
• Nationally, 181 farmers have filed for bankruptcy protection in the first two quarters of 2025, nearly 60% more than this time last year, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings. 
• Iowa farmers can expect a 24% decline in farm income in 2026, a new report shows.
• The Chicago Federal Reserve said credit conditions in Iowa and the district’s four states are softening, based on a second-quarter snapshot that’s taken annually. The share of farm loans with “major” or “severe” repayment problems, at 2.9%, up 2.2% from a year earlier, is the highest since 2020, the Fed said.
• Iowa farmers filed the second-largest number of bankruptcies nationally in the first half of the year, twice as many as last year and the most since 2021.

While Iowa families are preparing for the holiday season, Iowa continues to fall in rankings that actually matter. This December, instead of French hens and golden rings, we’re counting down the 12 Days of Iowa’s decline — a daily look at the rankings Iowa has tanked under a decade of one-party rule. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 3. 

###