Challenges shift as farmers face shortages this spring

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Challenges shift as farmers face shortages this spring

A northwest Tennessee farmer says the recent uptick in commodity prices has been a welcomed sight, but that doesn’t mean it will be smooth sailing for the rest of the year. David Nichols says that has just allowed for his worry to shift.  “Our inputs are going up in price,” he says.  “And also lack of availability and we’re seeing a lot of shortages.”

He tells Brownfield getting herbicides like glyphosate has been a challenge for one of his retailers this spring.  “We’ve never had any issues whatsoever getting ample supplies of that herbicide brought into our location,” he says.  “But, we’re hoping he’ll get a shipment in at the end of the week, we’ve been waiting about two weeks for that.  And when he gets that in, he’s backlogged on orders and he’ll have to ration it out.”

Nichols says availability isn’t the problem, it’s the logistics.  “There’s some product in the marketplace, but just getting it moved is the problem,” he says.  “We’ve run into such an issue with shortage of labor – whether it’s drivers or dockworkers, or whatever.”

Nichols says they’ve been full-speed ahead in planting as Mother Nature has allowed.   

AUDIO: David Nichols, Tennessee farmer

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