Farmers cope with soaring costs, delayed growing season
[anvplayer video=”5109844″ station=”998122″]
Last year’s drought hit Minnesota’s farmers hard, and now rising costs, including diesel, are adding to their burden.
Dan Glessing, Minnesota Farmer’s Bureau president, calls the last year for farmers a run of bad luck.
Last summer, the soil was too dry and this spring, it’s too wet.
“Spring is a particularly delicate time of year. You want to try and get that crop and get a nice, fairly dry soil bed,” Glessing said. “When it’s too wet, you cause probably more damaged to that soil structure.”
The poor soil conditions slow down the growing season, and now farmers are racing the clock.
A farmer fills a tractor with diesel Wednesday, May 18, 2022, on the Glessing Family Farm in Waverly, Minnesota. Farmers are bracing for the financial impact of a delayed growing season and soaring costs for supplies such as diesel and fertilizer. (KSTP)
“We’re losing yield potential now that we’re past the 11th of May,” he said.
Farmers are battling unpredictable weather on top of dishing out more money to run the farm.
“Certainly input prices are higher than they’ve been, whether it’s fuel or fertilizer. Everything is up,” Glessing said.
Farmers use diesel to fill up equipment, and the cost is reaching record highs. It’s a growing problem fueling challenges across the state.
“One fill-up of our tank last spring was about $1,800. Today, it’s about $3,300,” Glessing said.
He explained the ability to roll with the punches is in a farmer’s blood, and staying positive about what might come next is a part of the industry.
“Farmers are sort of eternal optimists,” he said. “You just take it one day at a time and hope that we can get the crop down and go from there.”