Keep customers ahead of evolving risks with Farm Risk Ready

American agriculture is currently navigating what many experts call a “perfect storm.” As of early 2026, the risks facing U.S. farmers have evolved from predictable seasonal cycles into a complex web of global economic, geopolitical and environmental pressures. 

“Traditionally, farmers have thought about risk in buckets such as production and marketing risk,” said Michael Langmeier with the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University. “However, the risk associated with managing a farm business has really evolved in the past 15 years. While we typically think of farm risk as resulting in some form of physical loss, it can also take the form of a reputational or market access loss. 

Here are a few examples of where farm risk is diversifying and growing, along with some ideas about how you, as your customers’ trusted partner, can help customers protect their legacies.

Challenges and solutions for protecting agricultural legacies

Market disruptions and the supply chain

• The “price-cost squeeze.” While commodity prices for corn, soy, and wheat have dropped significantly from their 2022 peaks (some as much as 50%), input costs — seeds, fertilizer and machinery — remain stubbornly high. 

• Geopolitical volatility. Recent tariffs and trade tensions with major partners like China and Mexico have created “reciprocal” trade barriers, making market access unpredictable. 

• Infrastructure bottlenecks. Aging river locks and rail congestion continue to delay exports, while the cost of parts and logistics has ballooned due to global energy fluctuations. 

Labor and regulatory hurdles

• The labor deficit. Agriculture is facing a 20% workforce deficit. Tighter immigration enforcement and an aging farmworker population (the average age of foreign-born workers rose by seven years recently) have made “follow-the-crop” labor nearly extinct. 

• Regulatory changes. Farmers are struggling with diverging state vs. federal standards, particularly regarding pesticide and animal welfare laws. 

• Cybersecurity. As farms become more connected, they have become prime targets. Cyberattacks in the food and beverage sector doubled between 2024 and 2025. 

Agronomic and management challenges

• Climate variability. It’s no longer just about “bad weather.” It’s about variability — harvest windows shifting by weeks, flash droughts and pest migrations where warmer winters allow new insects to survive in northern latitudes. 

• Financial complexity. With net farm income trending downward and interest rates impacting working capital, the business of farming now requires the sophistication of a financial advisor.  

How to help as a trusted partner

To protect the future of their businesses, farmers need more than just products; they need a resilience architect. And that’s what Nationwide’s Farm Risk^SM Ready initiative is all about. You can help by pivoting your support toward these three pillars: 

1. Transition from reactive to predictive 

• Precision data. Help them move beyond just collecting data to using it. Implement AI-driven advisory tools that correlate satellite imagery with soil moisture to predict pest outbreaks before they occur. 

• Scenario modeling. Use “stress-test” financial models. Ask questions like ”What happens to our debt-to-asset ratio if corn stays at $4.00 but interest rates rise another 1%?” Helping them see the “what-if” builds confidence in customers’ decision-making.

2. Diversification of the farm safety net 

• Beyond crop insurance. Introduce them to holistic risk tools, such as Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) or margin-protection policies that cover more than just yield loss. 

• Energy and carbon credits. Explore secondary revenue streams. Whether it’s leasing land for solar or enrolling in carbon sequestration programs, these can help provide “recession-proof” cash flow when commodity markets dip. 

3. Solving the “human” problem 

• Automation integration. To help overcome current labor shortage, help them vet autonomous technologies — robotic weeders or automated irrigation — that turn a five-person job into a one-person management task. 

• Succession planning. The biggest risk to a farm’s future is often the lack of a plan for the next generation. Facilitate these hard conversations early to ensure the business doesn’t dissolve during a transition. 

The 2026 agricultural landscape is more volatile than ever, but you can help your clients move from reacting to disruptions to mastering them. By leveraging Farm Risk Ready℠ from Nationwide, you can transition from a policy provider to a “resilience architect,” offering your farmers interactive assessments, step-by-step plan builders and research-driven insights to protect their livelihoods.  

Don’t just cover their losses — help them identify vulnerabilities and build a more insurable, sustainable future today by downloading the Farm Risk Ready Agent Toolkit. Start today by walking your customers through this Farm Risk Ready assessment quiz.