Matt West is a fifth-generation farmer in Elk Valley, Tennessee, raising corn, soybeans, wheat, melons, and sweet potatoes. Although he finds farming satisfying, he laments the rising input costs, labor shortages, and ongoing situation of farmers as price-takers. As quoted in the article, NFFC has written that “… farm policy encourages farmers to plant as much as possible, but when the market is flooded, prices drop…. Prices farmers receive for most commodity crops and livestock have been below the cost of production almost every year since 1981.”