The rise of inflation has had great repercussions on both Agriculture producer and consumer markets, according to the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Hindinger Farm bears no exception.
“It’s tough, because, you know, all your equipment needs to be fixed all the time, the parts all the metal, our goats have to be fed, the labor is going up,” said the owner of Hindinger Farm, Elizabeth Hindinger. “There hasn’t been really anything that has not gone up.”
Hindinger Farm is a business that stayed in the family since 1893, growing fresh fruits and vegetables in Hamden, Connecticut for almost 130 years. The farm grows strawberries, pumpkins, apples, green beans, corn, eggplant, cabbage and cauliflower in June and asparagus in the spring. The business has undergone a slight overhaul by increasing the price of its goods to compensate for the rise in the costs of livestock, seeds, fertilizer and farm equipment.
“Inflation definitely has affected us, especially in regard to our Community Supported Agriculture,” Hindinger said.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), is a system set in place that generates cash flow for local farmers during the fall and winter seasons. CSA members pay for a subscription box to receive fresh vegetables from their local farm every week. Since Hindinger Farm is closed during the winter, their boxes begin going out to consumers in June until the second week of November.
Due to the drought in the eastern half of the state during the summer, Hindinger had to account for its CSA, which currently has 287 members. Hindinger said they set their prices for CSA members in December 2021, not foreseeing how inflation will impact the costs of agricultural goods in the following months.
“It was a problem, you know because you end up spending more than what you actually got,” Hindinger explained.
Inflation can be accredited to different scenarios since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic’s dominance in 2020.
The surge in costs of factory goods parts can be attributed to part shortages caused by the pandemic according to Fortune magazine. Also, federal stimulus checks worth around $5 trillion went out to households and businesses during the pandemic. This earned the title of biggest cash injection from the government in America’s economic history and a bit of the blame for inflation being at an all-time high since 1982, according to GoBankingRates. With the distribution of stimulus checks, comes consumer spending, causing an economic expansion.
“In times of normal economic expansion, prices rise slowly as money slowly enters the economy, so it stands to reason that a sudden influx of trillions of stimulus dollars would send prices up quickly,” Rob Poindexter at GoBankingRates wrote.
In addition, Fortune magazine said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the cause of the inflation of the prices for gas and food supplies in the U.S.
Hindinger said having to raise the prices of their fruits and vegetables hasn’t greatly impacted their earnings but admitted that their pumpkin sales haven’t been strong this year.
“I feel like people expect it. Prices are going up everywhere,” Hindinger said. “People are generally sympathetic to that. We haven’t gone crazy, you know, so I think people are okay with it.”
Despite some challenges along the way, the sense of community is still strong at Hindinger Farm as local families came out to enjoy fall activities like pumpkin picking or taking a ride around the block in a giant wagon on Sunday, Oct. 16. Children also took advantage of their play area and race track while others admired the goats in their sectioned play area.
“It’s a nice fall Sunday to spend some time with the family,” said Hamden resident Ken Sweeten.“This farm is great. They have the pumpkins, they have the goats and they have the playground for the area so the daughter loves it.”
Ken came to Hindinger Farm with his wife, Jennifer Sweeten, and daughter, Kenzie Sweeten, on Sunday to pick out pumpkins to carve and decorate while supporting a local business.
“I think produce in general is just more expensive,” Jennifer Sweeten said. “But I think, you know, it’s okay to pay a little extra if you know that you’re getting fresh. And if you can support a local farm, that’s always an added bonus.”