Stabilizing Inputs Encouraging Some In Farm Country

Throughout much of 2022 and into this year, much of the financial concern for the ag industry was input costs that were climbing at significant rates.  But now, those concerns don’t seem to be so loud.  The Idaho Cattlemen’s Cameron Mulrony said diesel prices are a great example.

“It seemed to stabilize a little bit you know we're not seeing that drastic incline, or increase every month, every week.  Our fuel prices have dropped a little bit and kind of stabilized we're not seeing as big a fluctuation which is good.  Don't get me wrong, I think we'd all like to see $2 diesel again.  A drastic change in that direction wouldn't hurt anybody's feelings.”

Mulrony pointed out while prices are still elevated for everything from fuel to fertilizer to feed, the stabilization is welcomed news.

“You know between 2021-2022 we saw a drastic increase in a lot of places of our operations or input costs, so stabilization at least allows us to form a budget and make a plan and hopefully they'll stay kind of stable within the area that we're at.  And if we see anything hopefully it's a little decrease in those input costs in order to keep our operations whole.” 

While diesel prices have cooled over the past three months, they are still at the highest levels we’ve seen since mid-2008. 

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