Farmers are facing stiff headwinds as they harvest food for the nation and the world this season. From fuel to fertilizer to a new rail strike threat, it could be a tough harvest season for America’s producers.
The view of one of two farmers in the U.S. Senate, Iowan Chuck Grassley, is; “The national price of diesel at $5.30-cents a gallon, and it’s still expected to go higher, reserves for diesel have not been this low since 1951, when the U.S. population was half what our population is today.”
And then, there’s mother nature. Grassley; “Drought conditions throughout the Mississippi River basin have really limited shipping ability.”
While the war in Ukraine aggravates fertilizer prices according to Grassley. “Farmers face record prices from anhydrous ammonia that they’re going to apply this fall. And then, there’s a very real threat that we’ll see a railroad strike in about 16 or 17-days.”
Further squeezing supply chains, as Ukraine struggles against new Russian threats against its grain exports.
Former U.S. Ag Trade Ambassador Greg Doud on a Farm Foundation Forum said; “If you’re a vessel owner and you’ve got a vessel in that part of the world, you’re going to scatter. Don’t see any resolution to any of this in any short period of time, unfortunately—it’s rather tragic.”
Lending more uncertainty and volatility to farm input costs, crop prices and political stability in already shaky parts of the Middle East and East Africa.
