You should have received an email this week outlining the increase in prices for your CSA boxes beginning this week. I apologize that we didn’t provide more notice, but the truth is that we should have started it back in January — of 2024. Inflation last year was far higher than we expected, and it made for a very challenging year financially for us. It appeared to be slowing down at the end of the year, but that trend has now reversed.
After almost twenty years with no significant inflation, increasing prices to have become a fact of life in the post-Covid world and it could get significantly worse. Both the federal government and our state government are actively pursuing inflationary paths. It probably won’t come as a big surprise to hear that just about everything Terra Firma spends money on is more expensive than it was last year: payroll, fuel, seed, packaging, transplants and organic fertilizers have all gone up by 5% or more since last year. And last year they all went up from the prior year.
As I have mentioned in the past, while prices for fresh produce may have risen somewhat in the grocery store, prices paid to farmers have not. In fact, large buyers have outsourced much of their purchasing to Mexico, where costs — especially for labor — are much lower. This has actually allowed grocery stores to keep produce prices lower than they otherwise would have been. If the new administration does in fact move forward with 25% tariffs on Mexican goods, you will likely see an almost-immediate jump in supermarket produce prices. While this will have an unfortunate affect on consumers’ wallets, it will also serve to level the playing field for produce growers in the U.S. I don’t support across-the-board tariffs, but I do feel that something is needed to protect our domestic fruit and vegetable farmers, especially in CA (although that is not the stated reason for the tariffs).
March and April are critical months in Terra Firma’s annual planting cycle, as most of our summer crops get planted during this period. As our activity shifts from “mostly harvest” to “mostly non-harvest” work, our expenses go up and our income generally goes down. We’re getting fields prepared, pruning fruit trees, and doing lots of weeding. One of the core principles of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is that the subscribers help provide critical cash flow to their farm during this period to help finance the activities. While we do use commercial loans to help pay for planting season, we also rely on you.
The timing can be awkward, as our offerings for your CSA boxes during this time do drop a bit as winter crops and stored crops finish. But this year the gap between winter and spring crops should be much shorter than it has been the last two years, as we have been able to get into the fields and plant spinach, peas and lettuce for harvest in April. Strawberries will start by May 1st. We hope you’ll be patient with the limited variety of crops in your boxes for the next few weeks.
We will also be planting our first Tomatoes this week. The last couple of years, getting the early tomatoes planted was extremely challenging and expensive due to the mud and rain. This year, we may get a window of nice weather and dry conditions that will not only make the planting process easier and faster, but give the little plants a better head start on the season. After this week, March looks to turn cold and wet…not ideal for the tomatoes but at least they will be in the ground instead of still in the greenhouse.
So far, all of the responses we’ve gotten back from TFF subscribers about the price increase have been supportive. I’m not surprised. We have great customers. We very much appreciate the opportunity to feed you and your families during this challenging period for our country.