His family has experienced the ups and downs of the farm economy, including the 1980s farm crisis. Meyer said these emergency payments can help a farmer pay down their debt and survive until crop prices recover. He said farms are also carrying a lot less debt thanks to the last period of high crop prices from 2020 to 2022 . And he worries the increased volatility in both crop prices and the cost of inputs could be here to stay. The future of farm profitability also depends on how long crop prices stay depressed.