Input costs increase

AGRICULTURE
MOHSIN ABBAS
The Prince Albert Daily Herald

Despite Mother Nature's best efforts, worker shortage, rising input and machinery costs are big challenges for Northern Saskatchewan farmers this year.

Bruce and Nadia Stevenson manage a lower acreage farm in the RM of Birch Hills. The Stevensons are happy about the recent rainfall but concerned about the rising input costs.

"We needed this rain to keep the crop coming along with a few days of the dryness affecting the crop, and now we've got moisture yield. I think at this very moment the crop is good and excellent," Bruce said.

Bruce paid $500 for a ton of phosphate fertilizer last year and $1,300 for the same amount this year. He predicts the price will rise to $2,000 per ton by this fall.

The price of fertilizer has doubled within one year.

"The input cost for an acre of canola crop was $140 - in the last year it has gone up to $200-$225 and the output is $420, while labor costs are on top of that. Everything is going sky high. We've got risk of frost, drought (and) hail, and the government-provided crop insurance is not enough," Bruce said.

He said the government insurance covers two thirds and if he loses his crop he still loses one third of his expense.

"The government program for the insurance plan had slowly slipped, and it is a big concern," he said adding an average farmer with 500 acres of land is risking well over $1.5 million just for the input, and has to derive an income out of the crop.

With the shortage, some farmers are paying their workers up to $25 per hour, compared to $8-$10 a few years ago.

Bruce said that the high oil prices have been affecting food prices around the world and farmers are struggling.

"Rising machinery costs, the equipment going up as much 25 per cent due to rising steel costs. We are always running, trying to cover our input cost."

mabbas@paherald.sk.ca