I just got an email from a Compost supplier in reference to a concern many small fruit and vegetable growers are experiencing in getting product to farmers. There are a myriad of reasons which have plagued him through the winter, both in supply and delivery. Some of these problems are obviously weather related. But it highlights the greater problems faced by our farming community at large, not the least of which is Edgewater Farm. I have a minute to paint the picture for you, I thought it may be of interest and explains how things are shaping up for us going forward into the 2022 season.

The media at large is consumed momentarily with the war in Europe and the related financial issues and price of gasoline at the pump in the USA. I as a consumer and grower am pretty sure that we all are on the cusp of seeing just how expensive a head of iceberg or a box of dried raisins is going to be at the supermarket. But the reasons for these price hikes are many and inter related, and it is not just as easy as laying the blame on Mr. Putin and his vanity war.

When people drive down River Road and see Macs Happy Acres, Edgewater and Riverview Farm, it all appears as some magical little environmental oasis from whence local strawberries, maple creamees, chocolate milk and apples appear. What is lost in this imagery is the fact that the farms are actual businesses that are very dependent on outside inputs and supplies. Fuel to run the machinery. Fertilizer. Plastic milk jugs and flower pots. Parts to keep the tractors and manure spreaders operable. Acquisition of labor. We share a lot of the same logistical problems that Price Chopper and CVS have, even though our brick and mortar facades make us appear very different. Like those places we are dependent on the trucking world to get supplies to us. The price of shipping a pallet of anything across country has gone up 25%-40% over last year. Additionally the last couple of years has seen a shortage of truck drivers, so there have been additional holdups. Beyond the truckers, the pandemic has created a shortage in the labor force. Parts cant be manufactured. Mills cant operate at capacity. People cant go to work if they want to if the schools are closed, or there is no childcare. I used to be able to go down the street and if there wasn’t a piece of machinery on the dealership lot that I could not purchase then and there, I could have it delivered to me in under 3 weeks. If I want a tractor today, I can pay a deposit and wait as much as a year for it. There is little inventory, and less immediacy in sourcing anything . I don’t think I need to describe to you the impact a 20-50% hike in propane, gas and diesel prices makes on any of the farms on River Road, especially us. When you come to get your bedding plants in the spring, be sure to check out our 275,000 BTU gas furnaces in each of the houses. Now imagine how many dollars are going up the exhaust pipes on a cold night in March or April when 20 of them are running. Fossil fuel has-and will continue- to escalate in price for the foreseeable future price. America have done a masterful job of manipulating markets and developing our own supplies. But it is a finite resource, sooner or later it goes away. As it starts to go away, the price goes up. It is what it is. We can argue who is responsible, we can accuse corporate gouging, we can blame a war. But it going up. Unfortunately, I myself will feel very guilty about not shutting off the tractor when I get off to hook up an implement or maybe taking a side trip to pick up a mocha espresso. My guilt will be collateral damage.

Agricultural supplies are in short supply. Cant think of another way of stating it. Things we previously had no problem accessing have become problematical. Seeds…many of our flower and small vegetable seeds are grown internationally. Shortages of certain varieties are showing up, but more so in the flowers and ornamental than in vegetables. Sterilized potting soil has just become unavailable to a few of my Vermont colleagues, and ours came on farm very late. Part of this is trucking issues, but a problem also exists a because there are shortages of vermiculite, perlite as well as milled peat moss. The plastic pots and plastic we use? When you are checking on our propane furnaces on your greenhouse visit, look around and imagine how much plastic we have to inventory on farm to make the wheels turn for greenhouse season. Your hanging basket, plastic cell flats and trays, the plastic over the greenhouse. You are looking at trailer loads of plastic in different configurations just to make a little Podunk operation like ours work. Now imagine trying to get this inventory on board 4 monthes before you even sow your first tomato seed, and then dealing with back orders, shortages and price hikes. The production of all those different plastic configurations is tied to the rising price of labor and fossil fuels. We have pots on back order that we have been waiting for over a year. Now lets shift to rowcrop farming and fertilizers The funny thing about this business is that whatever you do to the soil- lwhether you are strictly an organic farmer or conventional- is tilling the soil is inherently bad for the soil structure and organisms that live within it. Weed free healthy crops are a site to behold, but it burns up carbon and harms the living soil organisms to make it look like that . (I will talk about soil health management to you sometime when you choose to be bored to death) The point being is that the farming activities used to produce food and animal feed take out nutrients from the soil. It is like a bank withdrawl. Eventually you need to put something back into the bank before you run out of money. Same with soil, in order to continue to use that soil you need to replace what you take out. You can look like soil nutrients as bank savings. Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Carbon for the organisms to live upon. Two of those three most important components are produced by using fossil fuels. Urea and potassium have tripled in price since last year. Already. Oh, and did I mention that 50% of the potash (potassium) we use in America comes from…….Russia and the Ukraine? Are you seeing a pattern here?

Sarah always gets after me. She says I should never blog this negative stuff. “Don’t be such a downer, Dad…” But maybe you can better understand why the potatoes may cost so more at the farmstand this year and why your geraniums seem to have taken a price hike. I am not trying to be a downer, I am a fellow sympathizer with you when we start paying $6 a gallon for fuel. I actually feel a little bit of pain for the store fronts in the upper valley, understanding and experiencing a number of similar problems. I am hearing electric tractors may not be that far out in the future. Good. My old friend and banker at Farm Credit once said to me “There are no problems in this world, only opportunities”. All this and a horrible uncalled for war in the Ukraine. Here at the farm we don’t have time to curl up in a ball and worry, because regardless of it all, Ray has another 2800 tomatoes to graft, Sarah and Allie have a shit ton of geraniums to transplant and I have to rustle up 6 or 7 tons of potash before May.