Rural America's farms are already being crushed by an economic crisis. They now face the risk of a 'mini-Dust Bowl' as a rare Super El Niño looms

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The U.S. farm economy has been fighting one battle after another in recent years, but a new threat is on the horizon that evokes memories of one of the worst agricultural disasters ever.

After the post-COVID inflation spike, farmers had to pay higher input costs, then saw prices for their crops tumble. The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate-hiking campaign to tame inflation burdened farms with more onerous financing terms.