🌾 🇺🇸 👨🌾 U.S. Farm Bankruptcies Surge +46% as Fertilizer Costs Squeeze Farmers:
The American Farm Bureau Federation reported 315 Chapter 12 bankruptcy filings in 2025, up from 216 in 2024 and the third consecutive annual increase.
The Midwest got hit hardest with 121 filings, a +70% jump.
The Southeast followed with 105, up +69%.
Together, those two regions accounted for more than two-thirds of every farm bankruptcy in the country.
Fertilizer prices are pouring gasoline on the fire.
Urea, the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer on the planet, has ripped +87% year-to-date and trades near $720 a tonne.
For corn growers who depend on nitrogen, this is a dire situation.
Many farmers are reporting they will cut the amount of fertilizer they use, shift from corn toward less nitrogen-dependent soybeans, or just take the yield loss.
Farms are under pressure.
📎 Hedgeye
Meanwhile, here’s Don Jr. worshipping at the feet of another demon god in India.
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The village of Piddington has voted for independence from the United Kingdom and to become a self governing village in a landslide vote.
91% Voting Leave
This comes after news that over 3,000 illegal migrants are to be dumped in their village.
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🇺🇸🛢 The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has fallen to 283.8M barrels, its lowest level since October 1982.
A year ago, September 2025, the SPR held 406 million barrels.
The current drawdown traces back to a 172 million-barrel release President Trump authorized in March, part of a coordinated 400 million-barrel release by 32 IEA member countries. Discharge began about a week later and was expected to take roughly 120 days, with the administration pledging to refill about 200 million barrels within a year at no cost to taxpayers.
Two different floors govern how far the reserve can fall. Federal law sets an operational minimum of 252.4 million barrels, while the generally accepted operational minimum is 250 to 300 million barrels on hand to pump and process oil efficiently, a level it is now testing.
Ben Cahill, an energy analyst at the Atlantic Council, has warned the releases carry diminishing returns: "at a certain point it becomes a self-defeating move, because releasing more...