Maryland?s farmers feel their customers? pain.
As consumers cringe at the rising costs of grocery staples like eggs, bread and milk, farmers fret over the soaring prices of fuel and fertilizer.
“Everyone thinks farmers are getting rich, but that?s not the reality,” said Jim Steele, the 30-year manager of Shamrock Farms in Carroll County. “The prices for items are going up, but so are the input costs.”
In the past year, the average price for a dozen eggs jumped more than 28 percent from $1.50 to $1.93, and a pound of bread spiked about 15 percent from $1.19 to $1.37, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Milk, which peaked at an average of $4.09 a gallon in Baltimore in March, now costs about $3.86 per gallon, up from $3.72 last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But those increases are nothing compared with what farmers are dealing with in terms of fuel and fertilizer costs.
The average price for a gallon of diesel has soared about 66 percent in the past year from $2.90 to $4.81, according to AAA. Increased worldwide demand for crops, especially from China and India, has shot fertilizer costs up. The price of diammonium phosphate, the most widely used ammon-pho fertilizer in the world, rose 200 percent from $252 per ton in 2007 to $752 per ton in 2008, according to the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development.
The cost to raise crops, operate machinery and transport products and supplies hits shoppers? wallets and farmers? bottom lines, said Steele, who raises horses and produces hay, wheat and soybeans.
“Farmers are gamblers, because you?re gambling on the weather, the crop size and the land base,” Steele said. “In the past, if you had a crop failure, you weren?t in really bad trouble. If there?s a failure now, it?s a big difference.”
There?s no bigger issue facing Maryland?s farming industry than surging input costs, says Maryland Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Earl “Buddy” Hance.
“We?re just like every other business,” Hance said. “We?ve got to deal with rising fuel, transportation and ingredient costs.”
REJUVENATION EFFORTS
The state is working to rejuvenate Maryland?s farming industry by encouraging residents to “buy local,” Hance said.
“When you buy local, the money stays in the local economy, farmers make money and are not as apt to sell their land,” Hance said.
With recent spinach and tomato health scares making headlines, more Marylanders appear willing to buy local.
According to a recent University of Baltimore survey, 78 percent of Maryland residents are more likely to buy produce that?s been grown by a Maryland farmer, and 44 percent are willing to pay some premium for farm products that would support Maryland farmers.
“Agricultural products are essential to creating a sustainable Maryland to protect our culture, our economy and our environment,” Gov. Martin O?Malley said in a statement.
“Buying local will help continue our effort to protect and strengthen our middle class, our family-owned businesses and our family farms, while preserving our farmlands and promoting rural economic development programs,” O?Malley said.
Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Carroll, Harford and Howard farmers markets operate from spring to late fall and in the summer give residents the chance to buy local items such as peaches, blueberries, eggs, cantaloupe, lima beans, cucumbers, corn and tomatoes.
There is a need to preserve state farmland, as Maryland?s farming industry has contracted slightly from about 12,400 farms in 2001 to about 12,000 farms in 2006, according to the most recent data from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The average Maryland farm is about 170 acres.
After seeing net farming income increase every year from 2002 to 2005, Maryland?s net farming income sunk 20 percent from $744.7 million in 2005 to $594.6 million in 2006. The average annual net income per farm fell from $61,649 in 2005 to $49,547 in 2006.
The Department of Agriculture is also planning for the future, having established the Young Farmers Advisory Board to promote the industry to men and women entering the workforce. In 2006, there were 2,025 people employed in Maryland in crop production and 1,404 employed in animal production, according to the Department of Economic and Business Development.
“There?s always a concern about the future workforce,” Hance said. “The average age of a farmer continues to rise.”
Even with additional concerns of drought, land preservation and a general economic downturn, Hance remains optimistic.
“We hope and believe there?s still a bright future for agriculture in Maryland,” Hance said.
EVERYONE?S CONCERN
David Beall knows firsthand the effects rising costs can have on farmers.
Beall, president of the Carroll County Farm Bureau, was forced to end operations at Silver Run Poultry in Carroll County about four years ago, because deregulation sent his utility costs through the roof.
“Energy prices are the No. 1 issue for farmers,” Beall said. “It?s a tough situation.”
Beall?s goal, then, has become to educate anyone and everyone on the issues affecting farming and land preservation in Maryland. The Carroll County Farm Bureau has about 1,600 members, and not all of them are farmers.
“Anyone who owns land should be concerned,” Beall said. “It?s about protecting our economy and environment.”
