Des Moines Register
05-13-06
Fuel costs push up farmers market prices
Growers say they must charge more to bring their wares to town
ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER AGRIBUSINESS WRITER
High fuel prices are cutting into the profits of farmers market vendors, prompting
many to raise prices for their home-grown wares.
Some travel an hour or more every Saturday to Des Moines' Downtown Farmers
Market, as well as making the circuit of other markets. With gas prices nearly
double the levels seen two years ago, farmers have been rethinking whether it's
worth the drive.
"I think you're going to see farmers thinking twice about driving further to other
farmers markets that may not be as reliable" as the downtown Des Moines
market, one of the largest farmers markets in the United States, said Rich Pirog,
marketing and food systems program leader at the Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University in Ames.
"Clearly, all farmers are going to raise their prices a bit," he said.
Vendors hope their customers will understand.
Last year, Cindy Madsen, an Audubon farmer, spent $20 to $25 to fill the 10gallon gas tank of her minivan for the 160-mile round trip to Des Moines each
Saturday. This year, she expects to spend at least $25 to $30 per tank.
Increased fuel prices have also driven costs higher for Madsen's monthly 190mile round trip to a market in Ames and for door-to-door deliveries she makes in
the Audubon area.
In addition, suppliers and processors have raised prices to recover their own
increased energy expenses.
To offset the added costs, Madsen has added 5 cents to the per-pound price of
her processed whole chickens weighing 5 pounds or less. She is also charging
25 cents more per pound for the ground pork patties and breakfast sausage
patties that she sells in Ames and Des Moines.
"With our processing costs and the price of gas going up, I've had to raise the
prices on some of my products," she said.
Duane and Shelly Roth of Janesville raise fresh produce that they sell at four
farmers markets in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. Like other growers, they have
raised some of their prices this year because of high fuel costs.
"We have gone up 25 cents on a couple different items because of the higher
fuel," Duane Roth said Friday. "We try to stay competitive, but by the same
token, you've got to make a little bit of money. ... It's tightened the potential
profits."
Eighty percent of the downtown Des Moines market's vendors are farmers who
travel from all corners of Iowa to participate, said Kelly Foss, director of the
market. Now in its 33rd year, the market has all of its vendors from last year, she
said, but many are worried about whether business will be as brisk this year with
customers also burdened by higher energy costs.
"I think the concern among our vendors is they're afraid that consumers may be a
little more frugal with their dollars," Foss said.
Since the mid-1980s, the number of farmers markets in Iowa has nearly tripled,
to 173, as farmers have sought to generate additional income and as consumer
demand for farm-fresh food products has soared. At the same time, growers and
livestock producers have tapped other types of markets, including Community
Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, which involve weekly deliveries to subscribers of
whatever the garden yields.
All of those producers have been hurt by soaring energy costs, said Mike Bevins,
head of the Bureau of Horticulture and Farmers' Markets at the Iowa Department
of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in Des Moines.
At the same time, though, Iowa farmers may have an advantage as energy costs
soar, he said. On average, food travels about 1,500 miles from farm to fork in the
United States, Iowa State researchers have shown. The same is the case for
other agricultural products sold in Iowa, including trees and shrubs.
"I've had nursery and landscape people tell me they had to pay $3,500 to get a
load of plant materials from the West Coast to Iowa," Bevins said. "The freight is
becoming a major factor in the cost of ornamental trees and shrubs to the
nursery and landscape industry."
Bevins and others believe that Iowa farmers can increase sales to food
processors, nurseries and landscape businesses looking to defray the added
transportation costs.
"They are looking for suppliers closer to home," Bevins said. "They're looking for
Iowa suppliers."
Pirog agreed: "As fuel prices rise, I think you'll see more interest in regional
sourcing, wherever possible."