WEST CENTRAL, OH (WLIO) - We've all had to deal with the rising cost of goods and services, and you may not realize how much this is hitting farmers. Our Nathan Kitchens spoke with a local farmer to see what that impact looks like.
With farming comes a lot of risk-taking. From knowing when to plant crops, will there be extreme weather, and whether the revenue after harvest is more than that cost to plant and maintain them?
We've all felt the impact of inflation, and farmers are certainly not immune to that. The input costs ranging from diesel, seed, fertilizer, and pesticides have skyrocketed, making it more crucial to produce a good crop.
"It's had a really trying effect on agriculture particularly if you don't have the yield that you need production-wise. While prices are pretty good, the input costs have gone up considerably compared this year vs. What they were for '21," said Alan Davis, Wapakoneta Farmers Insurance Agent.
"If you go to a dealer to order a tractor you cannot do that right now because they don't know what they're going to be able to get to build and how many units they're going to be able to build right now. It's one thing to be able to replace your equipment. The other scary part of it is parts that you might need to do repairs in the fall, are you going to be able to get those?" stated Davis.
Many producers manage their input costs ahead of time to know what they can sell for, and the unstable economic climate has made that even more of a challenge.
"Not knowing what input costs are going to be for 2023 is kind of tricky. Very soon, you're going to be starting to buy your input supplies for 2023. That's typical, you start securing your fertilizer needs and all those kind of things in the fall for '23," commented Davis.
The ray of hope for area farmers is that crops are looking to produce at least an average yield this season, based on current conditions. A reasonable crop should alleviate some of the sting of the economic climate.
