From indefensible federal crop insurance programs to the price of diesel to the speculation of agricultural property, area farmers gave U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan the lay of their land Friday afternoon and the reports were discouraging to say the least.
Thirteen farmers from rural to urban farms raising everything from corn and soybeans to fruits and vegetables and beef met in a conference room at the Porter County Administration Building at the invitation of the First District congressman to help him understand their needs, concerns, and what they’d like to see in the Farm Bill. The group first met in January in Lake County.
“Without being dramatic, but being real, the farming community is hurting,” Mrvan started off the discussion. He said he’s personally concerned about a squeeze on credit for farmers and tariffs on potash and fertilizer from Canada, among other topics, but asked what those in the room were concerned with and how the Aug. 11 derecho affected their crops.
Porter County Farm Bureau President Bob Wichlinski jumped in with concerns over a proposed battery plant a mile from his home in south Porter County. Mrvan asked what the area was zoned.
“Agricultural,” Wichlinski replied, “but it’s not clear to me it can’t be circumvented.
“You are the main guy, and you just have access to these guys,” Wichlinski told him. “It’s my experience that when it’s the congressman’s concern, it’s other people’s concern.”
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While Wichlinski acknowledged the Farm Bureau’s stance on property rights is staunch, the issue of big tech circling brought up a host of issues the farmers face from their self-appointed role protecting the character of the region’s farmland to the cascade effect of land speculation.
“I told my mom this last fall, farming – it’s just not fun anymore,” admitted Matt Hayden of Indiana Farm Bureau. “Everybody’s against you and if you’ve got somebody offering $150,000 an acre, you’re about stupid not to take it.”
But then he said your kids will go to the local football game and have to hear comments about having the dad who sold out.
“It’s not farming anymore. It’s speculating,” Wichlinski said.
“It’s a shell game,” added Tom Murphy of the Indiana Corn Growers Association. “They sell 100 acres here and they go down there (downstate) and they buy 1,000.”
Multiple farmers spoke of NIPSCO, from people speculating on land to be able to sell to the utility, to the company limiting their use of their self-generated solar power.
“We were restricted from being able to use all our solar power and all our battery power,” during the recent storms, said Freida Graves of Faith Farms & Orchard in Gary. “We were only able to stay on 12 hours a day” and could have helped a lot more people with 24-hour access.
Jody Herr and his wife lost their entire tomato crop in the recent storms and found out while filing a claim for hail damage that hail insurance on tomatoes ends Aug. 1 nationwide.
“Your tomato crops really aren’t coming on until Aug. 1st,” chimed in Hayden.
“We didn’t harvest until Aug. 10th,” Herr replied. “I think I read it one time that they don’t have information to put together a good insurance program. I would say every Lake County vegetable grower was hurt pretty severely and you’re just out.
“I will always keep pushing you on H-2A,” he told Mrvan on the Temporary Agricultural Workers Program. “When you see people picking peppers in the hot sun, there’s not enough people that want to do that job.”
Then the conversation moved to how the cost of diesel due to the war in Iran is driving some very large numbers. “The war in Iran has hurt us way more than the Chinese tariffs,” Murphy said.
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Mrvan said diesel is averaging $6.95 a gallon. He wasn’t telling these farmers anything they didn’t already know. Murphy said it costs $1,800 per day to run the combine. Hayden is putting 300 to 400 gallons of fuel in his equipment per day.
“The average consumer will blame the farmer (for price increases) because they don’t know that you can’t get more for your grain,” said Brantley Seifers, director of national government affairs for Indiana Farm Bureau.
“A very small percentage of the country produces food, but everybody eats,” Wichlinski said. “This is where it starts. An opportunity for conversation across the table.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.