From a distance, New Hampshire’s farms seem idyllic: red barns tucked into rolling green hills, roadside stands with fresh heirloom tomatoes and dairy cows grazing near colonial stonewalls. It’s easy to imagine these farms are immune to the trials of the modern world — the reality in 2025 is less pristine. Whether it’s war in Ukraine, turmoil in the Red Sea, tensions with China or climate change, global instability is disrupting the daily workings of small farms in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire’s agricultural economy, like the rest of the country, relies on a web of global systems. Fertilizer, seed stock, animal feed, irrigation equipment and market access are all subject to international flow. When those flows are interrupted, it’s family farms that suffer first, not industrial agribusinesses.
Take the war in Ukraine. While geographically remote, it is one of the world’s largest exporters of corn, wheat and fertilizer ingredients. When Black Sea routes were blockaded or threatened, prices soared. Between February 2022 and mid-2023, fertilizer prices rose by 80%, and animal feed costs increased by 30% per World Bank data. For New Hampshire farmers operating on razor-thin margins, this forced an even narrower profit window.
Beginning in 2023, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have forced shipments to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope. Delays and price spikes hit New England farms relying on imported equipment, greenhouse materials and feed. A replacement part might now cost double and arrive weeks late, cutting into the short growing season.
At the same time, the U.S.-China tariff war blazes on. China has redirected soybean imports to South America, dairy exports have stalled and trade uncertainty makes planning difficult. For a state like New Hampshire, dependent on smooth supply chains, even small disruptions ripple.
And then there’s climate. Not just unpredictable local weather shortening growing seasons, but global extremes too. Droughts in South America spike grain prices. Midwest floods delay shipments. Wildfires in the West reduce hay availability.
The convergence of war, trade disruption and climate change is being felt in every rural corner of New Hampshire. A strawberry crop is lost to frost. A CSA raises prices due to rising soil costs. A dairy farmer sells off cows to manage feed shortages.
Small farms, the backbone of New Hampshire agriculture, are uniquely vulnerable. They lack the reserves of cash or credit that national agribusinesses enjoy. According to the USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, about 83% of farms in New Hampshire are family-run. Of the state’s 3,949 farms, 93% either operated at a net loss or earned less than $50,000 in net income, proof of how thin the margins are. Farmers improvise every year, balancing hope and weather with invoices and debt.
What can be done? Nationally, the U.S. must promote regenerative practices and support local supply chains. Tariff adjustments and trade stabilization measures should be prioritized to protect agricultural exports and to ensure access to imports like fertilizer and equipment. Small producers cannot succeed in a system that wobbles from crisis to crisis. Either we become more self-sufficient or build stable trade partnerships. Right now, we’re doing neither.
Locally, consumers and voters have a role. Supporting New Hampshire farms isn’t just about buying blueberries in August. It’s showing up to town hall, backing farm-friendly zoning laws, and electing leaders who understand rural needs. Choices at the ballot box and grocery store matter. Every dollar and vote is a signal that the people behind our food are worth protecting.
Global instability is no longer something that happens “over there.” The world is smaller now. The challenges we face: climate, war and turmoil are tangled together. New Hampshire farmers are still planting and feeding their communities. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone or in the dark.