Mississippi’s $9 Billion Farming Sector Grapples with Policy, Technology, and Global Trade Pressures

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• Mississippi’s $9 billion farming industry, a backbone of the state’s economy, is facing mounting pressures from evolving agricultural policies, fluctuating subsidies, and stricter environmental regulations.
• Rapid technological change, including precision farming and digital tools, presents both opportunities and challenges for farmers who must balance high investment costs with long-term efficiency gains.
• Global trade tensions and shifting export markets are creating uncertainty for Mississippi producers, particularly in key commodities such as soybeans, cotton, and poultry.
• Farmers are increasingly calling for collaborative solutions that combine supportive state policies, access to modern technology, and expanded trade opportunities to secure the sector’s future growth.

Mississippi’s 31,290 farms and ranches generated over $9 billion in output last year, yet behind these impressive figures lies a sector under growing strain from policy shifts, technological change, and volatile global markets.

The state’s agricultural roots run deep in Washington. The U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters bears the name of Jamie L. Whitten, a Mississippi native who, during four decades in Congress, shaped national farm policy with unrivalled influence. 

Today, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins faces challenges of a very different kind, as she seeks to navigate the pressures of precision agriculture, international trade, and thin profit margins.

Rollins’ recent visit to Mississippi State University (MSU), alongside U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Mississippi’s Farm Bureau President Mike McCormick, underscored the scale of these challenges. A new MSU report highlights the precarious position of the state’s row crop farmers producers of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice, who entered 2025 with already razor thin margins, further eroded by falling commodity prices and uncertainty in export markets. 

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The one year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill provides only temporary respite, leaving long-term questions unresolved.

At MSU, Rollins and Hyde-Smith were briefed on pressing concerns, including a shortage of large-animal veterinarians and the university’s research into autonomous machinery, drone technology, and data-driven farming. 

Rollins also announced a $15 million expansion of the USDA’s veterinary loan repayment scheme to address rural workforce shortages, framing the initiative as vital to “food security, farm security, and ultimately national security.”

With Hyde-Smith holding influential positions on Senate Agriculture and Appropriations Committees, her partnership with Rollins could prove decisive. For Mississippi farmers, however, survival may hinge on whether such policy efforts and technological innovations can be harnessed quickly enough to withstand the twin pressures of global competition and shrinking margins.