As margins remain tight, a southeast Iowa farmer says input costs continue to be a major source of frustration.
Tim Meyer in Henry County says relief from higher fertilizer prices is critically needed.
“What really frustrates me, we get to $5 corn for two or three weeks and we’re already talking about $1100 nitrogen the spring. Now we’re back under $4.50 (corn) and there’s no talk about cheaper nitrogen.”
He tells Brownfield, “They are talking about raising interest rates again and that is really frustrating. Those are the costs that are going to get us.”
Meyer says diesel prices have created additional challenges, though fertilizer costs remain the primary issue.
“Diesel, that’s a cost for sure and I think folks like to talk about it. We’re going to need one more pass of tillage to get rid of these ruts. There’s your diesel cost.”
Meyer says diesel costs get a lot of attention, but they’re a relatively small part of the overall expense picture.
