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We've seen the bailouts for banks and bailout talks for the auto industry, but would you consider bailouts for farmers? The economy has hit them hard, too.
The costs to feed their animals are more than double, and the animal itself isn't bringing in the money when it's sold right now to make a profit. President of Cache Cattleman's Association Joe Fuhriman says, "It's worse than it has been, no doubt about that."
Fuhriman has plenty of cattle on his Cache County ranch. What he doesn't have is a good price to sell them. He says, "Until things turn around and we get a better price for our product, it's going to be hard."
Fuhriman says the problem is the cost to keep a cow through the year has more than doubled from $250 to more than $500. So, instead of keeping them, many ranchers are just sending their cattle to the slaughterhouse. That means a lot more beef on the market, and that is sending prices down.
He says, "Some are liquidating completely because they just know they can't make it, so that's the best thing to do for them."
Even though fuel prices have gone down a lot in the past month, Fuhriman says it's going to be a while before farmers see any of that benefit.
Leonard Blackham, commissioner for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, says, "The crops they have now and the meat they have now, they were produced with high input costs, and so their costs have been high and need higher prices to make a profit." He says that's why food prices at the grocery store haven't fallen as quickly as fuel prices.
Of course, cattle ranchers aren't the only farmers facing tough times. Turkey, pork, and even dairy ranchers aren't seeing good prices to sell their products. Blackham says, "We just kind of have to wait this out like everyone else is."
And as far as a government bailout, Fuhriman says that just doesn't make sense long-term. He says, "It would be nice, but that isn't the answer either. The best thing we can do is get a better price for our product."
Fuhriman says because of feed prices, there is a large sell-off of cattle going on right now, but he says that won't last forever and is optimistic as the cow herd gets smaller, the demand will go up and prices will follow.
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
