Lance Lillibridge:
An eastern Iowa farmer says the financial strain from high production costs is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
“We have a broken market when we look at our inputs.”
Lance Lillibridge says it starts with out-of-control fertilizer costs.
“Look at some fertilizer manufacturers,” he said. “Their second quarter profits were up 77% while their volumes were down 15%, so they were selling less fertilizer for a whole lot more money. That hasn’t helped us either. I mean, that just looks to me like price gouging.”
He tells Brownfield soaring diesel prices have made an already difficult situation even worse.
“A lot of us are looking at it costing us anywhere between $1200 to $1500 per day to run these combines,” he said. “And that’s just the combine. That’s not including the grain cart tractor or the semis to get it into storage.”
Lillibridge, who farms near Vinton and serves on the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, says there are few options for reducing fuel costs beyond minimizing equipment idle time.
