Hello There –
In case you missed it… the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) held a virtual panel discussion with RPI Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, Rep. Randy Feenstra, and members of the Iowa agricultural community in recognition of National Agriculture Day.
Panelists discussed how 40-year record inflation including historic diesel prices thanks to the Biden Gas Hike, the Biden-Buttigieg supply chain crisis, and the Biden administration’s focus on ramping up regulations like the Waters of the US (WOTUS) have been affecting their operations and livelihoods.
Nearly every farmer underscored a key theme with what they’ve been experiencing under Biden: a lack of leadership and uncertainty.
Here are some highlights from the event:
“I think everybody’s running scared. You know, we don’t know when the end is coming and that’s the part that probably is more crucial right now… How long are we going to have to withstand these crazy fuel prices, especially since they’re completely unnecessary? We have fuel in this country that we could be, you know, pumping. … I don’t understand why we’re… not doing that.” – Joe Zuercher, farmer and trucker
“Food is going up in price for our consumers, but our inputs are going up: fertilizers double or triple what it was a year ago, fuel is double what it was a year ago. … Our ability to even buy them [agricultural inputs] if we wanted them or could afford them is of concern to us. … Not just fertilizer but crop protection products – there’s a lot of uncertainty out there today on our farm and others [about] whether we’ll be able to get everything we need in order to grow a crop and feed everybody and also feed our animals.” – Ray Gaesser, farmer and former Iowa Soybean Association President
“Mostly, it’s about the uncertainty out here right now. Those that are involved in food production or agriculture, we’re used to fluctuating prices. It’s just something we deal with in our industry. But… it’s the uncertainty to where, and I haven’t substantiated the rumors, but the availability of crop protection products this summer. In our planning – planning for the next year, so next fall – we bought or made commitments to buy crop protection products; rumors are out there now that it’s not going to be available. So we’ve put X amount of dollars, well over $100,000 down on making a commitment from our suppliers that this product is going to be delivered, and we’re not certain we’re going to get it. We look at every input cost that we have… fuel prices are almost double. I feed livestock; my feed costs are 35-40% higher than what they were under the prior administration. … It’s just the lack of leadership that we’re seeing come out of D.C. right now that’s affecting all of our input costs, especially on the fuel side.” – Jim Boyer, farmer
“We had a neighbor delivering some corn into our feed mill. And he’s got a… tractor and it needed a new hydraulic pump, and the dealer couldn’t find one. They could not find one in the United States. Except, there was one in Nebraska and the dealer said maybe you better call because the dealer in Nebraska may not let it go. He did get ahold of him and he was able to get it shipped in … but otherwise he might not have been able to use that tractor this spring. I mean that’s just crazy when you have to go that far to get one part that you need and it’s the one part in the whole country, so it’s definitely a scary thing out there. We get through spring planting and we’re thinking ahead to fall and are we going to get the combine parts that we need and that sort of thing? So it’s definitely a concern.” – State Rep. Ross Paustian, Iowa House Agriculture Committee Chairman and farmer
“My feed supplier also said that he’s having trouble with shortages of minerals and vitamins that he puts into his feed, and also our local co-op said that there might be fungicide shortages and also chemical shortages because of the ingredients that go into the products.” – Chris Perdue, farmer
“This National Agriculture Day, Iowa Republicans remain committed to standing up for our farmers who feed our families and fuel our cars. When Iowa sows, America grows.” – RNC Spokesman Kush Desai
