About two hours northwest of Memphis in Gibson County, Todd Littleton raises corn, wheat and soybeans on his third-generation farm.

Farmers, he said, are eternal optimists. 

“We have to be. It’s always going to be ‘better next year,’” Littleton said. “If we didn’t feel like that, it would kind of seem hopeless.”

He called this year a “rough patch,” due in part to recent tariffs and global trade. For larger-scale producers such as Littleton Farms, tariffs impact both the cost of production and the global market value of those goods.

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