Peaches and the farm bill
This is going to be another one of my good news bad news editor’s notes.
The good news is that we are at my most favorite time of year in Colorado — peach harvest.
I love peaches but the ones you typically find in the grocery store have been picked too early. They are hard and by the time they are ready to eat are half rotten.
In fact, before I moved to Colorado, I had no idea what a delicious, fresh-picked peach tasted like.
So, to say that I look forward to Colorado peach season would be an understatement.
Unfortunately, this year Colorado peaches are going to be more expensive because growers are spending considerably more for expenses like labor and fertilizer and transportation.
“Producers on the Western Slope say they’ve raised prices to help offset increases in operating costs, such as labor and fertilizer. Talbott Farms in Palisade, for example, upped peach prices by 7% this season, said partner Charlie Talbott,” according to a story in the Denver Post. Talbott Farms was also hit by hail which also must be factored in when pricing their peaches.
This will not prevent people like me from buying local peaches because I understand why the price has increased. Also, I want to support the peach producers because if we don’t, they will not be able to grow these delicious peaches and that would be a shame.
The bad news is that we still aren’t going to have a new farm bill at a time when production prices are up, and crop prices are down. The problem is that Democrats and Republicans are feuding over a $53 billion increase in farm subsidies and cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The $53 billion increase seems extreme, but we need to remember that farmers have been suffering from increases in the price of everything they use to produce food from fuel and fertilizer to labor and equipment.
To put a finer point on the equipment issue, John Deere continues to downsize due to reduced sales. According to a July 24 article in the Des Moines Register titled John Deere cuts 67 workers from its Johnston finance operation, “Deere, which hasn’t disclosed how many workers would be shed this week, blamed the agricultural downturn for the cuts, pointing to projections that large farm equipment sales this year are expected to fall 20% to 25% below a year ago. Reed pointed to lower commodity prices, higher interest rates and market volatility.”
What annoys me most about the Democrats insistence on not spending more on farm programs is that the Biden Administration is all about spending more money to fund small- and medium-sized farmers. That’s all well and good but if large farms can’t make it there is absolutely no hope for smaller farms and ranches. Also, we are constantly hearing about starving people around the world so it would make sense to ensure that farmers and ranchers have the necessary resources and tools to feed these people.
If you see calls from farm and ranch groups ramping up their rhetoric this week to pass a farm bill it’s because the House and Senate have only one more week before they go on their August recess.
