Op-ed: Challenges Farmers Face in 2026

As Massachusetts farmers look ahead to the 2026 growing season, worry is creasing a lot of foreheads. For this industry, the next big thing is a series of big questions: how can we stay afloat as costs rise faster than income?

How can we adapt as climate change brings more erratic, extreme weather? How will trusted, valued coworkers be affected by the federal government’s terror campaign against immigrants?

And of course, as they grapple with these big questions, farmers are doing what they’ve always done: growing food for their communities, innovating in their businesses and responding to challenges.

Massachusetts farmers make immense contributions to the Commonwealth. They put food on our tables, generate millions of dollars in economic activity and steward thousands of acres of agricultural land, wildlife habitat, and waterways. Fresh local food, open views and vibrant community centers like farmers’ markets are some of the true joys of life in western Massachusetts. We all have a shared incentive to help farmers keep doing what they do best: growing food and feeding their communities.

The agricultural industry faces a core challenge: costs are high and rising while consumer spending power remains stagnant, and extreme competitive pressure on food prices is squeezing local farm businesses. Massachusetts farmers have some tools to manage this, including access to a broad web of support (including nonprofits like CISA, Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) that provides direct expert assistance on topics like financial planning, enterprise analysis and marketing. With these skills, often paired with grants and tax credits, many local farmers have found niches that work.

Programs like HIP, the state’s Healthy Incentives Program, which provides an instant rebate when shoppers use SNAP to purchase produce from participating local farms, serve a dual purpose of providing nourishing food to low-income families and a meaningful income stream to local farms. These types of support are smart investments for our tax dollars and philanthropic giving.

Climate change is here, and local farmers are feeling the effects of wild temperature fluctuations, increased precipitation and more extreme storms. In response, we’re seeing a wide variety of adaptive strategies.

Some farmers are investing in infrastructure, like new greenhouses to protect crops or massive fans to keep unseasonable frost from settling on delicate fruit tree buds. Others are making major changes to how they grow: remapping crop plans to account for sections of their land that are especially vulnerable to floods, droughts, or freezes; experimenting with no- or low-till methods for soil health and water management; or developing agroforestry parcels where livestock graze among fruit trees for soil fertility and shade.

These adaptations are creative, optimistic and costly. Farmers need financial support and expert guidance as they invest in extensive planning and implementation, purchase new equipment or structures, or absorb the costs of additional labor or lost efficiencies.

Agriculture is one of several industries in the United States that would not function without immigrant labor – which means that every one of us relies on immigrant workers for our food. According to the USDA, around 70% of crop workers in the U.S. are foreign-born and 42% do not have work authorization.

Recent federal immigration actions have left many farm and food workers, regardless of immigration status, terrified of being harassed or detained by ICE, perhaps without warrants or due process. In addition to its obvious human costs, this is undermining food production and farm and food businesses. At CISA, we’ve been working with farm owners to make sure they understand their rights and responsibilities as business and landowners.

Still, many farmers and workers are looking towards the next growing season with a sense of instability and anxiety.

These challenges are immense. So is the capacity of our local farmers for hard work, adaptation, and grit. As consumers and community members, we have many opportunities to support them: with our dollars, with our voices in advocating for funding and other resources, and with resolve in standing with our immigrant neighbors.