‘It’s pretty dire’: Nebraska farmers facing high inflation, low corn prices

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Nebraska farmers are being forced to make some tough choices as inflation and interest rates are high and the price of corn is low.

“We’re always eternally optimistic or you wouldn’t farm, but this is not good,” said Larry Hudkins, a Lancaster County farmer. “It’s pretty dire.”

Hudkins said there are a lot of factors adding into the stress.

“My interest rate went from 3.25% to 9% this last year,” he said. “But probably the biggest one is inflation. It’s just kind of the silent enemy. When you’re working with less money than you had the year before, but your expenses are going up, it puts a squeeze.”

And on top of that, Hudkins said Nebraska farmers are dealing with low corn prices.

Hudkins’ cost to produce a bushel of corn is $4.43.  He said Raymond Co-op is paying $3.80.

If Hudkins were to sell today, he would lose 63 cents on every bushel.

That leaves him with two options: sell his corn now and lose money or pay for it to be stored in hopes that corn prices will go up in the future.

But he said there is something that could help farmers out a little bit.

“The one bright spot has been livestock,” Hudkins said. “Livestock prices are high. We thank people for buying meat; it’s awfully, awfully high.”

That’s because the supply is low.

As of Jan. 1, there were 87.2 million head of cattle in the U.S., the lowest number since 1951.

So how will all of this affect prices in the grocery store?

Hudkins said it’s hard to tell.

“You would think that it would go down, but I don’t see that happening,” he said. “The raw materials aren’t going to make a whole lot of difference. The package, the transportation, the high cost for fuel and energy, those are bigger factors on what the consumers have to pay.”