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Wet weather keeps fertilizer, seed inventories stacked at suppliers

Ag input suppliers are feeling the impact of weather-related fieldwork delays.  Dave Schoonover with United Ag Cooperative in Almena Wisconsin tells Brownfield when farmers can’t get in the field, fertilizer and seed often stays at the co-op.  “We’ve got a lot of inventory sitting here that we’ve paid the bill on, and we can’t spread fertilizer.  We can’t get seed in the ground.  In essence, we can’t bill our customer’s option until that takes place, so that really has a magnifying effect across the board, and as I’ve often said, we go as our farmers go.”

 

Schoonover says they try to time the arrival of fertilizer and seed inventory so they can deliver to the farms quickly, but bad weather can bring deliveries to a halt.  “Our managers work very hard to negotiate top-flight deals to bring it in at a certain time with the expectation that we’ll be able to distribute it to the farm, to our customers, but again Mother Nature ultimately makes that decision, and we can complain about it all we want, but she really makes that call.”

 

Schoonover says they had a busy Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday last week, but everything slowed down dramatically when the rains came back Wednesday.