The cost of growing crops could outpace revenue for many Van Zandt County farmers in 2022, making it more difficult to break even despite rising commodity prices and increased demand both domestically and globally.

“The rising prices for fuel, fertilizer and other farm inputs just keep climbing higher,” said Van Zandt County Farm Bureau President Clayton Conway. “Uncertainty fuels volatility, and that’s what you’re looking at right now for this crop year.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) published a report that shows farm production costs are likely to increase 6% in 2022, which follows a 12% increase in 2021. This continues a trend stretching back several years.

Since 2013, farmers have seen almost all production expenses increase, AFBF noted. For example, livestock and poultry expenses have gone up 46%, and marketing, storage and transportation costs have increased 59%.

Farmers are seeing a number of production cost increases, including rising fertilizer, seed and chemical prices, which now make up to 17.5% of on-farm expenditures.

Fuel and energy prices continue to increase, and the situation is made worse by uncertainty due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Increased costs of labor, both on-farm and for agribusinesses serving farms, is also a challenge.

AFBF noted farmers and ranchers are still feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 disruption of labor markets and production.

“As farmers and ranchers, we’ve always had to carefully manage input costs, but the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, combined with the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 impact, have ushered in even more uncertainty and higher costs for those inputs,” Mr. Conway said.

AFBF and Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) are working to ensure the administration and Congress understand the severity and potential implications of increased production costs and the limited availability of some farm supplies.