This is Bob Bragg with the Farm News & Views report for the week of September 23rd.
In this election year, we’re hearing a lot about the increased price of food, so an article by Drovers Journal columnists Jon Nalivka got my attention recently. He points out that escalating food costs over the past four or five years is fertile ground for politicians to blame each other’s political party for high food prices. But what has not been included in this finger pointing is the fact that the cost of producing food has also increased For example, all of the primary inputs used to produce crops and livestock have increased 28% from 2019 to 2023. These costs include land, capital, energy, and labor, while government regulations also add to production costs.. From 2019 to 2023, the cost of energy increased 35 percent, while the cost of labor rose 24 percent. But most American grocery shoppers don’t consider this when they see their food costs rising.
For the third year in a row, low water levels are restricting river barge shipments and pushing up transportation rates on the Mississippi River. Midwest farmers depend on this barge traffic to economically move grain to Gulf of Mexico ports for shipment to markets in Asia, but freight rates have increased by 15% this year at St. Lewis, which is 53% above the three-year average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Low water levels have already created delays of up to two days.
Cowboys may not be glad to hear that University of Kentucky’s Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment has been awarded a $910,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study how drones can be used to herd beef cattle. Josh Jackson, principal investigator and assistant extension professor at the Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, said that “The idea is to see if we can move cattle with drones in an effective and safe way for the animals.” The drones will also have cameras that can create 3D models of cows from aerial photographs that could potentially be used to give ranchers accurate weight estimates, which researchers believe could streamline livestock management. But I’m not sure that most of the cattlemen I know would be interested in managing their cattle in such a hands off way. I suspect that their response to such a method to manage their cattle would not be allowed to be repeated on the radio.
Apple picking is staring earlier than usual in many areas of the U.S. this year, and warmer weather is leading to a second consecutive year of above average harvests. Higher temperatures in late winter and early spring caused buds to form, leading to an earlier bloom in May across many apple-growing regions. Locally, Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project’s Orchard Social & Fall Heritage Apple Tree Sale is scheduled for October 12th from 11 am to 4 pm at the Orchard Hub at 13729 Road 29, Dolores.
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Winston Churchill wrote, “Some people regard private enterprise as a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look at it as a cow they can milk. Not enough people see it as a healthy horse, pulling a sturdy wagon.
