Russia’s Ukraine war boosts food prices in U.S., vexing farmers about planting more

Higher wheat prices should make farmers like Nicole Berg, the owner of a 21,000 acre farm in Washington state, happy. But the costs of fuel and fertilizer are eating into her profits.

“The issue we’re having right now is that input costs are going up even more than the price of wheat,” Berg told CNBC in a recent interview.

Berg, like many farmers, is also constrained by the agriculture equipment market, which has been hit with supply chain disruptions that continue to delay orders of key machinery needed to plant and harvest.

“We have to put the deposit down so I have money going out, but I can’t even get the [no-till seed] drill until possibly the fall of 2024,” said Berg.

On last month’s earnings call, Deere & Co. said that order books for major equipment in the upcoming year are mostly full.