Input Costs Main Topic Of Discussion At Potato Expo

At the 2022 Potato Expo in Anaheim, CA last week, farmers talked a lot about input costs for the year head. Rabobank Senior Grains and Oilseeds Analyst Stephen Nicholson says producers are talking about everything that could cut into this year’s bottom line.

“It's not just chemicals or fertilizer or fuel. It's everything. Land costs, cash rents, machinery, if you can get it, chemistry, fertilizers, fuel, all that. And that's the thing that's more challenging this year because it's all these things you have to manage. If you have one thing to focus on it’s a little easier, and this you have to focus on all of them. I think that when we get past, kind of this through springtime, we do think that some fertilizer pricing will start to come down a little bit, but we really encourage producers to think ahead.”

And for potato growers, Nicholson says it’s even more challenging.

“First of all, you don't have a futures market that you can look at and go oh, it's going to be $20 in six months from now. Potatoes, of course, being good one week and bad the next week. So, I think for potatoes, you have to be a lot more cost conscious and understand what those costs are and figure out, okay, so where do I need to be on prices and where do I need to be in my marketing and get it done now as soon as you can, and if you can contract as much as that and fresh potatoes are tough. we know that, get that done now.”

Potato Expo ran January 5^th through the 6^th.

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