B4
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2022
Farmers feel impacts of infl ation
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
JEFFERSON — U.S.
infl ation hit a 39-year high
in November, according to
the consumer price index,
and prices continue to soar
in 2022.
One mid-sized farm in
Jeff erson is juggling spi-
raling costs for everything
from diesel fuel to fertil-
izer, illustrating infl ation’s
impact on agriculture.
George Meyer, 65,
grows hazelnuts and grass
seed at GM Meyer Farms.
He and his daughter,
Audrey Raschein, 35, are
making diffi cult decisions
in advance of planting sea-
son in an eff ort to control
costs.
This
isn’t
Meyer’s
fi rst taste of infl ation. He
started farming in 1979 and
endured the 13.5% annual
infl ation of the early 1980s.
“I know what it was like
in the ‘80s . It wasn’t very
much fun,” said Meyer.
He laughed wryly.
Looking at a single farm
can’t tell everyone’s story,
in part because suppliers
often charge lower prices to
longtime customers. But it
can illustrate a broad trend:
Prices are going up almost
everywhere on almost
everything.
To trace rising costs, the
Capital Press worked with
GM Meyer Farms to ana-
lyze purchasing data from
previous years compared to
projected costs for 2022.
For example, in 2021,
the farm paid $33.27 per
gallon for the herbicide
Lifeline. In 2022, the sup-
plier quoted $77 per gallon,
a 131% increase.
In 2020, the farm spent
$375 per ton on a fertilizer
blend containing urea and
ammonium sulfate. In Jan-
uary 2022, the same prod-
uct is quoted at $882 per
ton, a 135% increase.
Used in a large volume,
the cost adds up quickly.
Raschein estimated the
farm this spring will use
135 tons of the fertil-
izer mix for a total cost of
$119,070. In 2020 the same
volume cost $50,625.
The farm hasn’t even
been able to get a quote on
Gly Star Original, a glypho-
sate-based generic version
of Roundup, because of a
deepening shortage of the
herbicide. The farm paid
$17.20 per gallon in 2021,
up from $13.70 in 2020.
Axiom, another her-
bicide, costs $29.50 per
pound in 2022 compared to
$26.60 pre-pandemic.
These price quotes,
Raschein said, are only
guaranteed for a month.
Diesel fuel, which farm-
ers rely on, is also rising
in price. Between January
2021 and January 2022,
according to the American
Automobile Association,
the average price of diesel
in Oregon went from $2.73
per gallon to $3.88 per gal-
lon, a 42.12% increase. Off -
road diesel, used in trac-
tors and other equipment, is
slightly less per gallon but
also went up about a dollar
in price year-over-year.
Nonprofi t undertakes study
of ‘regenerative’ agriculture
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
George Meyer, left, with his daughter, Audrey Raschein. The
family grows hazelnuts and grass seed.
“It’s
tough,”
said
Raschein.
Energy
costs
also
increased. According to
the Energy Information
Administration, electric-
ity prices to consumers
across all sectors went up
from 10.63 to 11.20 cents
per kilowatt-hour 2020 to
2021. In the industrial sec-
tor specifi cally, the price
leapt from 6.71 to 7.26
cents per kilowatt-hour, an
8.2% increase.
“We had tremendous
electrical bills,” said Meyer.
Labor expenses have
gone up, too.
‘I’M NOT IN
THIS FOR THE
EXPERIENCE.
I’M HERE TO
MAKE INCOME.
NOBODY CAN
WORK FOR
FREE.’
George Meyer | farmer
Oregon’s
minimum
wage moved from $12.75
in 2021 to $13.50 in 2022.
Oregon growers who
hire guestworkers through
the H-2A temporary visa
program are now required
to pay $17.41 per hour, a
6.5% increase from 2021.
Operations like GM
Meyer Farms, which hire
workers through labor con-
tractors, must pay what-
ever rates the contrac-
tor requires. In May 2021,
Raschein said, the farm
hired workers at $18 per
hour. By December, the
contractor had raised wages
to $19.25 per hour.
Equipment,
too,
is
expensive.
Meyer said this year he
spent about $4,000 per tire
on a set of large tires that
cost around $1,800 each
fi ve years ago.
Raschein hunted for
a used tractor last year,
hoping to spend around
$35,000, but the models
she wanted were selling for
$42,000 to $50,000, so she
decided not to buy.
All these rising costs
mean tighter profi t margins.
But why? Can’t Meyer
and Raschein raise their
prices?
“We can’t do that. We’re
price-takers, not price-mak-
ers,” said Meyer.
Some farmers, espe-
cially those selling direct-
to-consumer or producing
value-added products like
wine, have more price con-
trol, but according to the
U.S. Department of Agri-
culture , most farmers sell-
ing wholesale have little
control over contracts, mar-
kets and pricing.
According
to
data
from USDA’s “food dol-
lar series,” off -farm costs
including marketing, pro-
cessing, wholesaling, dis-
tribution and retailing
account for more than 80
cents of every food dollar
spent in the U.S.
A decade ago, Ameri-
can farmers received 17.6
cents of every $1 consum-
ers spent on food. By 2019,
that had fallen to 14.6 cents
of each dollar spent. In
2021, the farmer’s share
was just 14.3 cents.
With rising expenses on
and off farm, many econo-
mists predict farmers’ profi t
margins and share of the
food dollar will continue to
shrink, pushing some out of
business.
Meyer and Raschein
continue to farm, but Meyer
said he’s concerned about
agriculture’s future.
“I’m not in this for the
experience,” he said. “I’m
here to make income.
Nobody can work for free.”
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The Ecdysis Founda-
tion, a South Dakota-based
agricultural research non-
profi t, is undertaking a
massive study of “regen-
erative” agriculture across
North America.
Matt Jones, former
Washington State Univer-
sity researcher and Ecdy-
sis’ entomologist, said
the word “regenerative”
sounds like a buzz word,
but it’s broadly about
agroecological
health,
like building healthy soils
and promoting biodiver-
sity. According to Ecdysis,
regenerative producers are
known for practices such
as planting cover crops,
limiting
agrichemicals,
planting pollinator strips
and hedgerows and inte-
grating livestock into crop
management.
The study is called the
1,000 Farm Initiative,
Jones said. It has two main
parts: a large-scale study
exploring
diff erences
between conventional and
regenerative farming prac-
tices and a study of chal-
lenges farms face when
transitioning from conven-
tional to regenerative.
The project is needed,
said Jones, because many
farmers are interested
in “regenerative” prac-
tices, such as spraying less
either because of environ-
mental concerns or ris-
ing pesticide costs. The
problem, he said, is that
little research has been
done into many regener-
ative farming practices.
Jones said there’s a need
to understand what works
and what doesn’t.
For example, Jones
said a grower he is work-
ing with would like to
stop spraying glyphosate,
but the farmer is having
“such a hard time” elim-
inating the spray since it
is used to terminate cover
crops. Jones said research
Jonathan Lundgren, former entomologist for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and founder of the Ecdysis
Foundation, works in the fi eld.
is needed to explore
alternatives.
The 1,000 Farm Initia-
tive is so-named because
the goal is to conduct stud-
ies at 1,000 farms — both
conventional and regener-
ative — across the U.S.
Jonathan
Lundgren,
former entomologist for
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and founder
of the Ecdysis Foundation,
said the project started
with 250 farms in 2021.
He expects to reach 500
farms in 2022 and hopes
to deploy researchers to
1,000 farms by 2023.
“It’s really exciting,”
said Lundgren.
Jones, who is leading
the Northwest portion of
the project, will start by
working with apple, cherry
and grain growers, along
with rangeland cattle pro-
ducers, in 2022. In future
years, Jones said he hopes
to add Northwest potatoes,
grass seed, vineyards and
other crops.
Although the cost of
conducting the research is
estimated at $5,000 per site
on average, there is no cost
for a farm to participate.
Major funders include
Silverstrand Foundation,
Oberweiler Foundation,
Ducks Unlimited, Gen-
eral Mills, Keith Campbell
Foundation, #Noregrets
Initiative, Burroughs Fam-
ily Farm, Regen Ag Foun-
dation and South Dakota
Beekeepers.
The
research
will
include soil health stud-
ies, bird surveys, studies
of local pests and benefi -
cial insect populations and
analysis of crop nutrient
density.
Farmers don’t have to
change anything about
their management prac-
tices, Jones said. The
researchers will study
existing systems to fi nd out
which techniques are best
for agroecological health
and farm profi tability.
The data will be shared
with growers who partici-
pate in the study.
“Farmers can use the
information to make deci-
sions, so it’s of immedi-
ate benefi t to them,” said
Lundgren, the nonprofi t’s
founder.
Eventually, the data
will be made available to
the public. Specifi c farms
will be kept anonymous.
“It’s about outcomes —
producing research to help
growers farm in a way
that’s ecologically respon-
sible but also profi table,”
said Jones.