Farmers Squeezed Between High Input Costs, Low Prices
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Over the last decade, the cost of producing crops has continued to climb, yet for many farmers, their percentage of the food dollar hasn’t kept pace. Shay Myers of Owyhee Produce says that while factors such as overproduction are contributing to the problem, the current margin squeeze is not sustainable for American farmers.
Myers… “ We look at what it takes to grow an onion for us. In 2018, we figured it cost us $5,500 an acre to grow a crop of onions and put it in a 50 pound bag. That's pushing just over $10,000 an acre today. There's nothing that looks like it's coming down. There's no reprieve. I don't see things getting any better in the near term. I guess the only frustration that I have at retail you still continue to see—and I've got some great, we've got some great partners at retail that treat us well—but when you see an onion's average markup is 300% to 500%, probably in the 450% markup range. When you know that you're selling a crop at a loss and it's continuing to sell and quadruple the earnings at retail, it's pretty frustrating. Again, it's our fault for overproducing, but it doesn't remove the frustration when the consumers are paying as much as they are at the register and complaining so much about what their food costs them. And we know that we're essentially giving our onions away for free, yet they continue to pay prices higher than what we ever get in the best of cases.”
Myers several different crops on his operation, but currently only three remain profitable.
