Idaho Farmers

Fuel prices and Idaho farmers. I called University of Idaho ag economist Dr. Garth Taylor and asked the following question. Can you talk about the impact of fuel prices on the upcoming forecast for farmers? Speaker2: Well, this is one of the things. Let's just back up just a second, David. This past year, in 2021, we had record cash receipts, sales record. We broke all time records. And we're very close to breaking the all time record in net farm income. In other words, we've had drought, we've had embargoes, we've had COVID, we've had supply chain. What else catastrophes have hit in 2021. And yet we break all time records. And this is not the first year. This is not the first year. This is record highs for the last two or three or four years. I could go back and get you the exact statistics on it, but you see the trend. You throw everything in agriculture and it bounces back with new record highs. That flies in the face of what people think it is. But you know what's going to kill farmers? Inflation. It did back in the eighties and it will now. I want your listeners to see and look at them in the mirror and say, when was the last time you paid 16% on your operating loans? It is not just diesel fertilizer roundup and it is a general inflation in the types of all of their inputs, including their operating loans. Speaker1: The resilience of Idaho farmers is amazing.