Agriculture in 2022: Plenty of ‘Hangovers’ from 2021
January 12, 2022 With this being my first column of the new year, I thought I would continue upon the tradition I started last year in making some predictions for the year ahead. And given that this column has been published just following New Year’s Day, my predictions for 2022 can be summed up in one word: Hangovers!
Now for individual readers, hangovers could describe how they might feel following a few days of bringing in the new year with plenty of partying and drinking. For the agricultural community, however, the hangovers I speak of have more to do with leftover issues from 2021 that continue to cause problems than overall body aches and tiredness.
Take COVID-19, for example. In my 2021 column, I predicted that with vaccines now available, COVID-19 would begin to fade into the background. However, multiple variants later such as Delta and Omicron, it seems more likely that COVID-19 is here to stay. Instead of disappearing completely such as pandemics, COVID-19 prevention seems destined to be a regular part of everyone’s annual health regimen — like getting yearly flu vaccinations and cancer screenings. Ultimately, we will learn to live with COVID-19.
Supply shortages are another hangover event from 2021 that will continue well into 2022. As the world lifted COVID-19 restrictions from 2020, many supply chains around the globe experienced unprecedented demand. Unfortunately, “just flipping the switch” to get production back up to pre-pandemic levels has proven a challenge for many manufacturers and suppliers, to say the least. In fact, many agricultural industry companies are telling me that they are working overtime to secure raw materials and necessary parts for their operations through November of this year. “I don’t expect the supply chain issues to get any better until well into 2023,” one ag retailer told me recently.
Then of course, there’s labor. This is not a new problem for agriculture. In fact, according to our magazine’s annual CropLife 100 survey of the nation’s top ag retailers, finding/keeping good workers has been an ongoing problem for the industry since the 21st century began. But now, with companies across the country struggling and competing for workers, the problem has gotten much, much worse.
For example, at a recent trade show, some ag retailers told me that they typically would offer existing employee’s bonuses — ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars — to recruit new workers to their doors. But in 2021, many companies have had to up these antes to as high as $10,000, with similar sign-on bonuses for new hires as well. And the workforce shortages persist. “I have to compete with manufacturers in my area that are paying $30 an hour to start, and that’s hard to do!” said one Midwestern ag retailer.
So, hangovers from 2021 look like they will keep plaguing the ag retail industry. Hopefully, like real New Year’s Day hangovers, most of these will be distant memories once the 2022 holiday season rolls around.
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