CRIVITZ, Wis. — A Wisconsin couple said the increasing cost of doing business is forcing them to adapt operations on the family farm.
“They’ve already been fed for the morning,” said Ashley Dudkiewicz as she walked to her beef cattle to give them a late-morning snack in the frigid cold.
She and her husband Joe Dudkiewicz said inflation and supply chain disruptions have resulted in skyrocketing input costs. That means the cost of supplies needed to run the farm, plant crops, and raise cattle has gone up.
“It definitely makes things more challenging,” Ashley Dudkiewicz said.
Joe Dudkiewicz said one item that has become increasingly more expensive is diesel fuel. He needs the fuel to run his combine and other equipment on the farm.
He said he can go through 1,500 gallons of diesel a week when busy. That is roughly $6,000 a week for diesel at the average cost a gallon in the Midwest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“It’s like anything when you’re dealing with a whole bunch of inflation,” Joe Dudkiewicz said. “It’s tougher and tougher.”
Aaron Pape is a farm business instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College. He’s followed the market and said he had never seen input costs so high.
“Basically, all the main inputs of agricultural production have increased in price,” Pape said, whose family farms as well.
Pape said some fertilizers have increased in costs by as much as 300%.
“It’s put a squeeze on farmers, so we’ve having to get creative with how we can manage through these tight cycles,” he said.
The Dudkiewicz family said they’ll have to pay close attention when rationing supplies to get the most out of their dollar.
They said while the prices of what they sell have increased, it’s not enough to offset expenses.
“There is definitely challenges and tough years, but you keep an eye on something positive coming down the road and adapt with it,” Joe Dudkiewicz said.
“We do our best to do our research and use the tools that are available to us so that we have a farm that we can transfer to our children if they want part in this,” said Ashley Dudkiewicz.