Farmers feel the big freeze

Summary

Marketplace Morning Report — “Farmers feel the big freeze”

Date: January 27, 2026
Host: David Brancaccio
Summary Prepared By: [Expert Podcast Summarizer]

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Overview

This episode of the Marketplace Morning Report highlights America’s shifting business and economic landscape amid cold winter weather. Major topics include the unexpected freeze’s impact on Southern farmers, significant fluctuations in health insurance stocks due to new Medicare regulations, updates on federal student loan forgiveness policies, and a notable privacy settlement involving Google. The segment on farmers and the “big freeze” is the thematic centerpiece, exploring the ripple effects of harsh winter weather on agricultural communities across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Health Insurance Stocks Take a Hit Amid Medicare Payment Changes

[00:01–01:24]

• Government Payment Update: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced a smaller than expected rate increase (less than 1%) for insurers managing Medicare Advantage plans, versus company expectations of 4–5%.
  • "Medicare pays big insurers...to manage Medicare Advantage plans for seniors."
    – Nancy Marshall Genser [00:26]
• Coding Crackdown: The change is part of an effort to curb insurers’ use of “coding practices that do not lead to better quality coverage”—i.e., diagnosing additional illnesses from patient records to secure higher payments.
• Market Reaction: Pre-market, Humana’s stock dropped 15%, Elevance’s over 7%, and UnitedHealth’s by 12%, despite the latter beating earnings expectations.
  • “UnitedHealth stock is down 12% pre-market, now this despite reporting quarterly profits today that beat expectations...”
    – David Brancaccio [01:24]
• Industry Response: The trade group America's Health Insurance Plan warns the proposed rate could generate benefit cuts and higher costs for seniors.

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2. Evolving Student Loan Policy Under the Spotlight

[01:24–03:01]

• Payment Suspensions: Around 5.3 million borrowers have yet to restart student loan payments, benefiting from the legacy of pandemic-era deferments.
• Wage and Tax Garnishment: Contrary to earlier plans to resume garnishments for those in default, the Trump administration has issued a temporary pause.
  • “I want to emphasize that I do think this is a temporary reprieve.”
    – Betsy Mayotte, Institute of Student Loan Advisors, on Make Me Smart [02:21]
  • She speculates collections could start again after July 1 or post-midterm elections.
• Ongoing Reforms: Regulatory changes are in flux following last summer’s major tax and spending bill.

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3. The Big Freeze’s Impact on Southern Farmers

[04:07–06:50]
Thematic Core:

• Severe winter weather upends agricultural production in traditionally warm states—Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas—with wide-ranging consequences for timber, sugarcane, crawfish, cattle, and poultry.

Mississippi Timber Industry

• Destruction from Ice: Sudden freezing rain led to extensive ice accumulation, snapping or uprooting valuable pine trees.
  • “What tends to happen...is when they get bent over with ice, they may break off or they may pull out of the ground and it leads to a tree that's probably not salvageable.”
    – Keith Coble, Mississippi State University [04:35]
• Long-Term Loss: Damaged 12-year-old trees cannot be easily replaced, resulting in years of lost growth and investment.
  • “You've lost 12 years worth of growth and all you can do is clean it up and start over.”
    – Keith Coble [04:53]

Louisiana Sugarcane Concerns

• Post-Harvest Fear: Just after harvest, a prolonged cold wave threatens underground sugarcane roots vital for next year's crops.
  • “Really, the underground portion of that root is really critical to next year's crop establishment.”
    – Mike Deliberto, Louisiana State University [05:23]

Texas Crawfish Production

• Short/Long Term Effects: Crawfish 'burrow deep' to avoid brief cold snaps, causing only a temporary production halt.
  • “It just, you know, slows down production or halts it just for a few days, just briefly, but it does not overall hurt the season.”
    – Nikki Fitzgerald, Texas A&M [05:44]
• Molting Boost: Cold snaps promote molting, leading to larger crawfish—potentially a positive outcome.
  • “Every time you get these cold snaps, they actually will molt...they actually grow two times the size they were before.”
    – Nikki Fitzgerald [05:58]

Cattle and Poultry Pressures

• Cows Lose Weight: Unlike crawfish, cattle can’t burrow and spend energy on warmth rather than weight gain, reducing beef production.
  • “What we typically see following a storm like this is weights come down.”
    – David Anderson, Texas A&M [06:22]
• Poultry Heating Costs: Farmers in poultry regions incur major expenses keeping chicken houses warm.
  • “It costs them a lot of money to keep those chickens warm.”
    – David Anderson [06:36]

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4. Google Settles Voice Data Privacy Lawsuit

[06:50–07:34]

• Privacy Settlement: Google agrees to a $68 million class-action settlement over allegations it recorded user conversations regardless of activation keywords. Google denies wrongdoing, citing settlement’s intent to avoid “the hassle and expense of a court battle.”
  • “There's news that Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class action suit contending the tech company had recorded audio of private conversations even if people had not uttered the key words to trigger Google voice commands.”
    – David Brancaccio [06:50]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Timber Loss:
  • “You've lost 12 years worth of growth and all you can do is clean it up and start over.” – Keith Coble [04:53]
• On Student Loan Collection Pause:
  • “I want to emphasize that I do think this is a temporary reprieve.” – Betsy Mayotte [02:21]
• On Crawfish Growth:
  • “Every time you get these cold snaps, they actually will molt, which is a good thing because when they molt, they actually grow two times the size they were before.” – Nikki Fitzgerald [05:58]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Health Insurance Rate Shock — [00:01–01:24]
• Student Loan Payment & Policy Updates — [01:24–03:01]
• Main Feature: Farmers and the Big Freeze — [04:07–06:50]
• Google Voice Privacy Settlement — [06:50–07:34]

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Episode Takeaway

This snapshot of the U.S. economy reveals how rapidly changing environmental policy, financial regulation, and climate can upend entire sectors, from agriculture to technology. Farmers must adapt to extreme weather and costly disruptions; insurers face squeezed government reimbursements; and consumers confront persistent uncertainty in student loan and privacy policies. Farmers in the South are bracing for recovery and adaptation as the “big freeze” leaves economic and environmental repercussions that will unfold into the next season.

Transcript

[David Brancaccio]

Health insurance companies wake up today with a headache. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Stock and the health insurance company humana is down 15% in pre market trading right now. Elevance, which does Blue Cross Blue Shield, down more than 7%. This after reports the government plans to give them just a small raise for privatized Medicare Advantage plans. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall Genser explains Medicare pays.

[Nancy Marshall Genser]

Big insurers like UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health to manage Medicare Advantage plans for senior seniors. Yesterday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers Medicare, projected a rate increase for these insurers of slightly less than 1%. The companies were expecting closer to 4 or 5%. The government is trying to crack down on companies that read patients medical charts and conclude they have additional illnesses. Insurers are paid more when patients are sicker. Now Medicare wants to change that, only paying for new illnesses diagnosed during a visit to a doctor's office. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says it's trying to limit growing unnecessary costs from quote coding practices that do not lead to better quality coverage. It'll finalize new rates by this April. The trade group America's Health Insurance Plan says the proposed low rate could result in benefit cuts and higher costs for seniors. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

[David Brancaccio]

Given this, UnitedHealth stock is down 12% pre market. Now this despite reporting quarterly profits today that beat expectations, we don't expect US Central bankers to lower interest rates this week. The Fed starts meeting today and its briefing on inflation, jobs and growth comes just after lunch Eastern time tomorrow. Dow futures are down 2.10percent, but S&P futures are up 4/10 of A percent. Nasdaq futures are up 0.6%. Now 5.3 million people have not made a student loan payment in a year, part of the legacy of pandemic era policies to ease loan repayment. The plan had been for the government to resume grabbing paychecks and tax refunds for those in default. But we continue to cover the Trump administration's recent about face on this the wage and tax garnishments have been suspended, but for how long? Betsy Mayotte is founder and president of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors. She spoke with our podcast Make Me Smart.

[Rima Reis]

I want to emphasize that I do think this is a temporary reprieve. I would not be surprised if they started doing it again either after July 1, when a lot of the HR1 provisions come into play, or after midterms.

[David Brancaccio]

Changes to the student loan system. Were promised in the big tax and spending law from last summer and are evolving. For more on what's to come for student loans, check out Marketplaces make me smart. Marketplace.org has the audio now.

[Keith Coble]

Foreign.

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[David Brancaccio]

It's a big country with many growing zones, and even here in the dead of winter there's planting and harvesting in what are supposed to be warmer climes. Yet we have this record cold. Marketplace's Elizabeth Trovall now has more on farmers and the big freeze in Mississippi.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

Rain quickly turned into ice in many parts of the state, freezing power lines and trees, delivering a blow to the state's timber industry, says Keith Coble with Mississippi State University.

[Keith Coble]

What tends to happen with pine trees is when they get bent over with ice, they may break off or they may pull out of the ground and it leads to a tree that's probably not salvageable.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

And you can't just replace a 12 year old tree.

[Keith Coble]

You've lost 12 years worth of growth and all you can do is clean it up and start over.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

In neighboring Louisiana, Mike deliberto with Louisiana State University says, even though farmers just wrapped up sugarcane harvest, they're very much.

[Mike Deliberto]

Concerned really by the prolonged days that we're going to have temperatures really below freezing or even below the 20s, because.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

You can harvest sugarcane several times, but not if the root freezes beyond repair.

[Mike Deliberto]

Really, the underground portion of that root is really critical to next year's crop establishment.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

And moving west through Louisiana into Texas, we're in crawfish country. Nikki Fitzgerald with Texas A and M is keeping an eye on the mud bugs who burrow deep in the ground. When it gets cold, it just, you.

[Mike Deliberto]

Know, slows down production or halts it just for a few days, just briefly, but it does not overall hurt the season.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

She says the cold weather might actually have a positive effect on what was already looking to be a decent season for crawfish.

[Mike Deliberto]

Every time you get these cold snaps, they actually will molt, which is a good thing because when they molt, they actually grow two times the size they were before.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

But cattle cannot burrow into the ground, which is why economist David Anderson with Texas A and M says during cold snaps, cows, unlike crawfish, get smaller because they're eating food to stay warm, not to add weight.

[Keith Coble]

So what we typically see following a storm like this is weights come down.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

That can bring down beef production. Anderson says the storm also hit a lot of poultry producing regions of the country, not just Texas.

[Keith Coble]

They have heaters in the chicken houses, but it costs them a lot of money to keep those chickens warm.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

It's an extra expense that can hurt a farmer's bottom line. I'm Elizabeth Trovall for Marketplace.

[David Brancaccio]

And is it a coincidence, or is Google listening and feeding customized ads based on private utterances? There's news that Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class action suit contending the tech company had recorded audio of private conversations even if people had not uttered the key words to trigger Google voice commands. Google's parent, Alphabet, admits no wrongdoing, and the company indicated it's settling to avoid the hassle and expense of a court battle. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. You're listening to the Marketplace morning reports. From apm american public media.

[Rima Reis]

I'm Rima Reis. And this week on this Is Uncomfortable, fellow podcaster and host of Scamfluencers, Sarah Haggie joins me to sort out your work drama. We answer your questions about scammy bosses, managing workplace friendships and coworkers who pushed boundaries a little too far. I'm going to stay at your place for a bit while I'm breaking up and obviously I'll need a key. And that is how you get a squatter. Listen to this is Uncomfortable on your favorite podcast.

[Elizabeth Trovall]

Apparently.