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Iowa farmer tackles input price volatility

An eastern Iowa farmer is changing the way he manages inputs to combat the volatile price environment.

Logan Lyon, an Iowa Corn Growers Association director, tells Brownfield he adjusted the timing of fertilizer applications this year. “I’d rather be a spring nitrogen applicator, but the past couple of years I’ve gone to the fall,” he said. “I know what my cost is in the fall and I don’t know what it’s going to be in the spring.”

He says rising input costs have been cutting into farmer profit margins. “It’s really putting a wrench on growers across the country,” Lyon said. “Growers have a unique set of handcuffs where we are able to make just enough money, but we never get to have a really overwhelmingly great year.”

Lyon says a volatile market can make it difficult for farmers to lock in prices for next year.