Food price increases just starting: Farmer
Farmer Ben Riensche predicts higher food prices and scarcity on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’
A record increase in fuel prices is compounding increases in commodities and raw materials prices that will lead to unprecedented grocery bills for American families, one Iowa farmer warned on "Jesse Watters Primetime."
Ben Riensche, owner of Blue Diamond Farming Company in Jesup, Iowa, said Friday the inflation seen at the supermarket is nowhere near as bad as it will get as the growing season continues in the heartland.
"If you think we're seeing food price spikes right now, I think the food price increases are just starting," Riensche said. "And I don't think your grocery bill will be $1,000 a month. I think it may go up $1,000 a month."
Riensche rejected the Biden administration's claims inflation will be "transitory" and warned of possible "food scarcity" as the collective crisis disrupts supply chains at all levels.
Farming scene (Melina Mara/WaPo via Getty) (Melina Mara/WaPo via Getty)
"My diesel price is up. So that's crushing my profit and my fertilizer prices for phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium — the three key nutrients I need to grow. My crops are up three-times," he said, adding that his latest fertilizer bill alone was $1 million.
The high prices for raw materials are thereby decreasing demand for agriculture inputs, Riensche added, saying that translates to spreading out crops during the planting phase, resulting in a smaller harvest.
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Biden (Scott Olson/Getty)
The relevant supply chains are "reluctant to re-stock" their materials, which affects the entire sector.
He blamed Biden's energy policies and the White House's decision to tariff fertilizer imports, adding that the war in Ukraine compounded the problem because that country produces a good portion of the world's fertilizer.
"The Green New Deal [and] ESG sort of ideas have made energy — particularly natural gas — much more expensive," he said, as other agricultural states like Pennsylvania enter into the RGGI cap-and-trade pact, spiking LNG rates.
Of Biden's plan to stimulate new domestic fertilizer production, Riensche estimated such projects could take a decade to realize.
Host Jesse Watters further criticized Biden's recent claim to understand the plight of farmers because he represented the aptly nicknamed "Blue Hen State" — which the president noted has a chicken-to-human population ratio of about 200:1 — for 36 years in the Senate.
"But, Old McBiden doesn't know how to farm," the host quipped.