It's not (only) Ag Monopolies.

Every one, at every step in the supply chain is over leveraged.

When credit was cheap(free) every one at every step in the chain borrowed heavily. Farmers, Suppliers, Buyers. Now that the bills are due (it's all commercial paper most had 5 year terms) the last of it is now running through the banks there is NO wiggle room left.

Why are farmers squeezed out? Because they have little control over their direct costs (equipment, seed, fertilizer) are heavy users of credit, and dont control the value of their sales.

Honestly the writing was on the wall -- farmers know that crop marketing (when to sell, what to sell as a futures contract) is a big part of what they do. The services they pay for to help them in this task got it very wrong. This is contrary to the data they had, and may have been motivated by emotional choices regarding the political climate and outcomes...

A saying I've heard a few places, including from farming friends, is farming is an industry where they buy at retail and sell at wholesale. Unfortunately most of the money in farming seems to be holding onto land until it appreciates and can be sold.