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No quick fix for rising farm input costs

The CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association says there’s no silver bullet to fix rising input costs in agriculture.

Casey Wasser tells Brownfield the issue has been building for years.

“This is a problem, if not addressed soon, is going to plague the next generation.”

Ad-hoc assistance from the USDA is helping farmers in the short-term, but Wasser says the transparency of how all inputs are priced is needed to find long-term solutions.

“We need a better understanding of cost versus profit. We need a better understanding of what farmers can do to work with policymakers,” he says. “Now is the time to start peeling the onion back and seeing are there things we can do with state legislators, Congress, the executive branch and even globally, with some our trading partners, what can we do to raise a profitable crop?”

On the farm, Daniel Carpenter from west-central Missouri says farmers are already adjusting.

“Reducing some tillage practices in fields where we can get by with no-till. Maybe saving that fuel or wear and tear for one pass,” says Carpenter. “We’re looking at cutting extra prices on products that aren’t tried and true industry-wide.”

Wasser says discussions are ongoing around increasing input competition and domestic production, but this is a complex issue that will take time to resolve.