WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Farm vendors participating in the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market experience the ups and downs of working in agriculture.
They’ve dealt with weather issues and the pandemic and lately, other forces affecting their financial bottom line.
Golomb’s Farm and Greenhouse is one of more than a half-dozen farm vendors selling their harvest at this year’s Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market.
Hiller asks, “How important is the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market to your livelihood?”
“Well, it’s probably for produce, it’s going to be the largest percentage of what we’ll earn,” replied Harold Golomb, Owner of Golomb’s Farm and Greenhouse.
Golomb is banking on even more earnings help this year to offset what everyone is feeling lately, an inflation pinch, but for him, it includes the price of fertilizer.
“That’s the only item that, you know, everything else we expected, didn’t really question our suppliers but that’s one thing that I had to give a return call and say, ‘hey, did you not make a mistake on it because the cost has gone up so much,” Golomb stated.
“Everything is crazy. All our costs doubled or tripled. Fertilizer tripled. Fuel doubled,” added Ray Zimmerman of Zimmerman Farms.
There’s another problem farmers face besides the cost of fertilizer and fuel. Here’s a hint. It has four legs.
“Oh, deer. Lots of deer. There’s always wildlife working against you but you just cope with that,” Zimmerman said.
For farmers to keep their farming businesses afloat, they must cut costs or raise revenues.
“It’s going to be tough. I mean people will have to get used to some higher prices this year,” Golomb explained.
Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania Farmers are counting on consumer understanding.
“Everything’s going up. We are a small business ourselves so we make sure that we come back,” explained Kimberly Tramonta of Wilkes-Barre.
Besides understanding, farm vendors are also counting on consumer support.
“Supporting the small guys, you know. I think that’s the heartbeat of our city here and we’ve just got to keep them going,” added Matt Hernandez of Kingston.
Another rising cost one farmer told eyewitness news he’s dealing with is the price of topsoil.
He says the amount of topsoil he uses, used to cost $600 and now it costs more than $3,000.