Hutchinson — Prices for farm products aren't keeping up with the rising costs for producing them. The December index for all farm products, compiled by the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service, is down 10 points from a year ago.
The state's grain and cattle farmers are continuing to lose ground against those production costs as well as inflation.
The farm-products, crops and meat-animals indexes all were down last month. The index for all farm products is at 88 percent of the 1990-92 base, unchanged from November but down 10 points from December 2000.
The index for crop prices is at 91 percent of the 1990-92 base, up a point from November but down 6 points from December 2000. Meat animals are at 85 percent of the 1990-92 base, down two points from November and 14 points from December 2000.
That base, said Dave Ranek, section head for statistics service, is based on commodity prices in the early 1990s. Inflationary factors and production costs are built into the formula. The final percentage indicates how close current prices come to those early 1990s prices with inflation taken into account.
"It all adds up to real bad news for the farmer's wallet," Ranek said. "If you're making a decision to farm or not, unless you're basically inheriting land and a good amount of equipment, there's no way. It's an enormous risk. You hope for good weather, then you get to the end of your season and you're at the mercy of payments. Where else is that the case?"
The wheat standard perplexes Kansas officials, who say that low world stocks should produce higher grain prices.
Instead, wheat prices at mid-December's $2.63 per bushel were down 4 cents from November and 25 cents off from December 2000.
"It tells me there isn't a whole lot of demand for wheat out there, even though stocks are low," said Brett Myers, executive vice president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.
"The bottom line is there's plenty of wheat around to fill all the orders," Myers said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense. The markets are pretty hard to figure out right now. You look at world stocks and they're lower than we have been for a long time. People are just buying as they need it."
An abnormally dry fall and early winter with the last measurable moisture in many corners of Kansas dating back to late August and early September has concern for the 2002 wheat crop rising.
"Nobody has enough moisture right now," Myers said. "It's no big deal right now with the wheat in dormancy, not using moisture. But if we don't get some snow or moisture, we won't have anything on top. Then we get the wind and we've got big problems."
Beef cattle were bringing an average of $66.10 per hundred pounds, down 70 cents from November and $10.70 from December 2000.
Cow prices, at $35.20 per hundred pounds, were unchanged from November but down $1.20 from December 2000. Steers and heifers averaged $67.10 per hundred pounds, down 70 cents from November and $11 from December 2000.
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