A Message from your President, Robert Luther
I hope this newsletter finds you doing well and enjoying the summer so far.
This time of the year is a busy one for the farmers in the county. We have gotten all our crops in the ground and we hope the weather does its best to help us bring in a bumper crop in the fall.
That brings me to a topic that many people are talking about and that is food prices. The past few years have seen our gas prices increase many times over and our food prices are starting to increase, as well. I guess you could say that everything just cost more than a few years ago.
I would like to say that the increase in the corn price or soybean price is going to help me and other farmers like me but not as much as you think. Farmers don’t get to set their price unless they are selling directly to the public from a farm market or roadside stand. Many of us lock in contracts and hope we got the best price.
We don’t get to set those prices because the market does.
Increased gasoline and diesel costs have really hurt the farmer just as much as the consumer. Fertilizer has doubled in cost for all the farmers. Inputs in general have just cost the farmer more than ever and that makes for a questionable year ahead.
We hope for a bumper crop, but will the price be enough to make a profit at the end of the day?
According to the agricultural statistics book from the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the farmers in Summit County make on average $30,000 a year.
That is not a lot of money to live on for the amount of work that we have to do, but we do it because we love it and at the end of the day, it is worth it.
The farmers in this country feed almost 300 people per farmer and that is something to be proud of. So the next time you see a farmer I hope you tell him or her thanks for what we are trying to do. It’s not an easy job, but we have chosen to do it.
I hope to see you at the Summit County Fair, July 22nd through the 27th, and hope you stop by our farm museum near the animal barns!