Farmer who voted for Trump says "I can't stay in business" amid rising costs

Read the original at CBS News ↗
CBS News · collected 2026-09-18

Quick Summary

Matt Bell, a North Carolina farmer and Trump voter, is struggling to keep his farm operational due to increasing costs. With over 30 years of farming experience, Bell expresses that farmers are "fighting for survival," highlighting the economic challenges facing the agricultural sector under current conditions.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Matt Bell, a 52-year-old farmer from Kings Mountain, North Carolina, who has farmed over 1,000 acres of soybeans, corn, wheat, and raised beef cattle for more than half his life, voted for President Trump but is struggling to keep his farm operational due to rising costs. Bell grows crops and raises livestock on his land but the high prices of fuel, fertilizer, and equipment are making it increasingly difficult to sustain his business. He has made significant changes like shifting acreage use and producing his own fertilizer but still faces financial stress. Bell's children have opened a storefront for pumpkin picking and hayrides in fall to supplement income, yet he expresses worry about staying in the farming industry. "I can't stay in business," Bell told CBS News, highlighting the severe impact of economic challenges on farmers who supported Trump politically.

Written for “Farmers Struggle With Costs” on 2026-09-18, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Score -0.15 Confidence medium
Leaning score -0.15 for article 17793 (medium confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-09-18

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
2
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
0%
0 of 2 hedged
Leaning
Centre
of the writing, not the subject
Correction & hedging signals
70.8
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
2
Economy/Business
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-09-18 · how these are computed

Story

📰 Farmers Struggle With Costs
Economy/Business · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads centre and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
CBS News · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 5 of 57 📰 publisher trust 71
“Both articles report on Matt Bell's statements about farming difficulties and his support for Trump, describing the same interview at his farm in North Carolina.”

Publisher

CBS News · 653 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)
2026-09-17
After nitrogen execution blocked, Alabama inmate to die by lethal injection
2026-09-14
The AI bubble is leaking air, some economists say. Should investors worry?
2026-08-24
Sean Grayson, convicted in killing of Sonya Massey, dies in prison, attorney says

Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

North Carolina

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 2× Matt Bell PERSON · 1× North Carolina GPE · 1×

Narrative

Farmer who voted for Trump says "I can't stay in business" amid rising costs Matt Bell has been farming in North Carolina for more than half his life.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-18

Claims (2 extracted, 0 hedged)

Farmer who voted for Trump says "I can't stay in business" amid rising costs Matt Bell has been farming in North Carolina for more than half his life. asserted
Bell → vote → life
He voted for President Trump but said farmers are "fighting for survival" as they combat rising prices. asserted
they → vote → prices
💬 Give feedback
🕘 History 🎫 Support