EasternIowaFarmer_Fall2022

THE COST OF FARMING
White Front already had some of the
herbicide on hand, so she could absorb
some of the increase by averaging it with
the cost of what was previously in stock.
“Everything is just constantly shifting,”
she said. “It’s been a nightmare.”
Prices from suppliers have been changing
faster and more frequently than usual.
When Coons first started working with
their dad, Bruce Lammers, they would receive
about 25 price updates or additions
by the end of September. In early August,
she had already received 33.
Bruce started the business in 1975 and
retired this past year. One of the many
things Lammers and Coons learned from
him is having a policy of not being reactionary.
“One thing our dad has always said
is don’t break the market. By trying to
follow along with others in the industry,
Jake and I follow the way our dad always
did it. We try to absorb price increases
through the inventory we already have to
benefit our customers,” Coons said.
For example, her brother was able to
“It’s different every year.
You can’t keep one set
plan. You’ve got to be
able to adapt as things
change.”
— JAKE LAMMERS
buy the majority of their fertilizer needs at
a lower cost earlier this year, she explained.
“We still needed to buy more, and the
price went up, but we won’t just sell it at
the higher price. We will average it out
with the lower cost of inventory. And we
will keep that going as we go through the
year. Every month, or more, we reassess
our prices,” she said.
They also learned from their father to
be patient, Lammers said, because some
of the prices that spike tend to come back
down to follow the grain market
“Two years ago, urea was $300 a ton,”
Lammers said. “Earlier this spring there
was a natural gas shortage causing the
urea price to spike to almost $1,000. Now
it’s down around $600 (at time of this
interview). So, in one year’s time, it raised
$700, and lost $400. It’s just all over the
place.”
They also learned to follow a strategy
but still be flexible.
“It’s different every year. You can’t
keep one set plan. You’ve got to be able to
adapt as things change,” Lammers said.
An additional piece of advice from their
dad that they’ve found helpful is to seek
out good information.
“Listen to people around you. Don’t
always assume you’re the smartest person
in the room,” Coons said.
They talk regularly to the crop protection
and fertilizer representatives with
whom they work.
They also rely on their salesmen, Jason
Kurt, Josh Smith and Matt Link, who also
farm, for their input and experience.
“All three see a broader scale of our
customers and what impacts them. We can
read stuff until we are blue in the face, but
they are in the trenches,” Coons said. n
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