HAMILTON, Ohio — Farming has been a way of life for generations at Brown's Family Farm Market, but it now faces a one-two punch of higher fuel prices to run the equipment and high fertilizer costs to grow the crops.
Jody Boyd is a fourth-generation manager who oversees day-to-day operations around the farm and market.
"We expanded into the produce business probably about 36 years ago when we moved to this location in 1990 and we have always grown produce," Boyd said.
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Boyd said local farmers are facing challenges from rising fuel and fertilizer prices.
Fuel powers everything from farm vehicles to heating greenhouses, while fertilizer is essential to keep crops growing, Boyd said.
"Whether it's to produce food, to feed people, or to grow the flowers and things that we have in the greenhouses, the pumpkins that we pick in the fall ... they all need fertilizer at some point," she said. "It's a little concerning. You see fuel surcharges come and go, and there's things like that always affecting the bottom line. The fertilizer, if there ends up being fertilizer shortages, how that's going to trickle down in the future, that's where the concerns start to come in."
The farm is making strategic moves to stay ahead.
"We just have big tanks back there, so I don't know how often they get filled, but we say roughly monthly," Boyd said.
Despite the uncertainty, there are signs of support from the community.
"It's fun, it's great to see all the people returning again, some of the same faces have supported us for years," Boyd said.
The farm's market, located at 11620 Hamilton Cleves Road in Hamilton, just opened for the season on April 1.
"We're still optimistic that things are going to move along as normal," Boyd said.
