Idaho professor says Idaho farmers are squeezed
Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:10 AM PDT
MOSCOW (AP) — A University of Idaho economics professor says high fuel and fertilizer costs coupled with sinking wheat prices are squeezing individual farmers in eastern Washington and northern Idaho, possibly advancing an evolution toward large commercial agricultural that dominates much of the rest of the nation.
Steven Peterson says whether this trend will become entrenched on the Palouse depends on if energy prices behind fuel and fertilizer spikes become permanent.
If farmers lose their land to bankruptcy, he believes it’s likely that somebody will buy the land — and that could be large companies.
Even given recent financial market uncertainties, Peterson doubts America will return to Dust Bowl-days of the Great Depression.
Still, he says ‘‘there could definitely be a slowdown like we saw in Japan, and agriculture would probably be a part of that.’’
