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Precipitation and profitability top the list of concerns for Missouri farmer

A northeast Missouri farmer says outside of precipitation, profitability is his biggest concern for the 2024 growing season. Brian Threlkeld farms near Shelbina. “If you don’t have, I call it old money, and you’re the new generation, and you’re trying to make it all work,” he says. “It gets tough.”

He tells Brownfield the economics of farming aren’t for the faint of heart. “Market prices and market outlook,” he says. “You know the price of everything, fertilizer seed, chemical equipment cost is going up. I don’t know where this equipment cost is going to stop. You know everything just gets more expensive.”

He negotiates input costs, because any savings he can find matter. “If you’re going to the bank now, it’s 8 to 8.5%,” he says. That’s a huge difference. If you start paying a lot of interest, it’s all got to come out of these bushels or these acres that we’re farming. So anytime anybody wants more, it’s just coming off the top of the profit.”

Threlkeld, a first-generation farmer, started farming with 100 acres in 1993, the year of the flood.

AUDIO: Brian Threlkel, Missouri farmer