CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Home to 382,000 farms, agriculture and forestry is Virginia’s number one industry. With farm tariffs now in effect, Virginia farmers say they are taking their toll.

Virginia farmer John Boyd, who founded the National Black Farmers Association, says farmers have become afraid.

“Bankruptcies are on the rise and farmers are asking me if they’ll be able keep their homes if they file for bankruptcy. Farm suicides are up,” according to Boyd, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump. “The president’s tariffs have put this country in complete turmoil for America’s farmers.”

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Customer Service says the state’s most significant field crops are corn, wheat and soybeans.

“The only thing we still do in this county better than anybody around the world, and people can debate me on this, is produce corn, wheat and soybeans,” Boyd says. “When it comes out of our fields, it’s ready to be shipped to China and Mexico, and the president’s tariffs are gambling with farmers’ lives.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, tariffs have taken U.S. farm debt to a record high of $561.8 billion this year. Ironically, corn production is expected to hit a record 16.7 billion bushels in 2025, according to USDA projections — up 13% from last year and topping the 2023 peak of 15.3 billion.

Virginia Tech agricultural trade policy analyst Xi He says retaliatorily tariffs from Mexico, Canada and China will particularly affect Virginia soybeans, poultry, pork, and tobacco, which are among Virginia’s top farm commodities.

“Retaliatory tariffs make it more costly for foreign countries to purchase U.S. agricultural products compared to products from other origins, which could reduce demand for U.S. products and depress prices.”

Boyd says deporting undocumented farm workers could make it impossible to gather what’s in the fields.

“These persons have been doing this type of work for a very, very long time on these farms, harvesting tobacco and other commodities with no problem,” he says. “These aren’t criminals and all the things that the president says they are. These are hardworking people who are doing the work that many of us in our own country don’t want to do.”

Virginia’s top 20 farm commodities overall are found here.