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Rising input costs impacting specialty growers

An eastern Wisconsin specialty crop grower says rising input costs are affecting her operation.

Robyn Calvey owns Park Ridge Organics, a diverse vegetable farm in Fon du Lac County.

“We’re still using fertilizers. They just have to be organic approved.”  She says, “And yes, I have seen some pretty significant price changes on things that we’re using, even some unavailability to get things that we would prefer to use.”

She tells Brownfield, “The other place where cost has increased is in packaging.”  She says, “We do purchase packaging for our products, but also, we buy in a lot of products. And even though they’re made in Wisconsin, I know that their cost for their bottles or jars or whatever it might be is increasing.”

Calvey says seed costs are also on the rise.

“We ordered at the end of 2025, but they were quite a bit different from the year before, so we see that increase happening year after year,” she says.

She says like most retailers, specialty producers are having to increase their prices to the consumer to maintain profitability.

AUDIO: Robyn Calvey – Park Ridge Organics