Bramblings: The need to adapt

By BECKY NELSON
By Becky Nelson

What to do when things aren’t on the shelf or in stock when you want them? This may be a more common question in the very near future than we wish.

Worldwide shortages of glassware are impacting everything glass — windows for houses, windshields for cars, bottles for alcohol beverages, jars for jams and salsa, etc. Drought-induced shortages of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and berries are going to affect lots of our favorites. And with the holidays just around the corner, maybe in a very noticeable way at the holiday table. We saw shortages of toilet paper, cleaning products, protective equipment, and even cars with a shortage of computer chips responsible.

The horrible western droughts have some farmers destroying their own almond orchards in favor of less water-reliant crops. Some tomato processors are saving the water from their tomatoes and processing chores to put back into the irrigation lines for future crops, and tomatoes are projected to be in short supply very soon as crop numbers are way down. Others are giving up entirely, or plowing under some failing crops. With tomato shortages on the horizon, there may be fewer jars of ketchup, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, or salsa this winter, and the prices will undoubtedly rise. We have had limited production in lots of our field crops due to early drought and later deluge.

There are already shortages of berries and cherries for anyone looking for frozen products. We order from a New York supplier for our pie-making supplies, and there are shortages across the board and price increases doubled for some of the products we use and tripled for others. That is the products we can get.

Labor shortages across the globe because of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions because of said labor shortages and shutdowns, and uncooperative and even horrific weather all across the globe are making for some dire situations here in the homeland and abroad as well with wildfires all over the globe, hotter temperatures affecting agriculture everywhere and droughts affecting many while flooding is affecting others.

My suggestion to everyone reading this is to hold onto your hats. The storm is just beginning. The consequences for shutdowns of production — whether it be in the fields or the factories — and the aftermath of folks being paid to stay home are just beginning to be felt. My hypothesis is that many who were able to retire from the workforce — whether at retirement age or a commitment to make ends meet with fewer extras on a single income in a formerly two income family — have left the workforce for good, making those of us needing to fill our payrolls a huge challenge. Fewer workers, fewer products to sell, fewer employees to serve at stores and restaurants, and fewer people doing all the things we need to make our comfortable lives comfortable. I think we are looking at months, if not years, of recovery and adaptation to the new situations that seem to arise daily.

We are prepared to adapt here at the farm. We are looking carefully at our hours of operation at the store to trim both payroll and staffing needs and try to keep the bottom line black. We are scrutinizing our books and will be concentrating on activities that make for this solid bottom line as labor and supply costs skyrocket. We are thinking long and hard about the future of farming and how we can fit into the industry with our little farm in a little community in a big wide nation and world. We are looking at our retirement and wondering if retirement is an option and when to start paring back our involvement in the business.

We will adapt.

We will change with the seasons and the challenges. We will do our utmost to preserve the legacy of growing and providing here at the farm. But the keys to success are a willingness to change and adapt and patience. Lots of patience.

I urge all of you to adapt and be patient. We are in this for the long haul, and yes, we are in this together. Without civility and understanding, the messes of our communities and our world will continue to grow and fester and our own incivility will make for a rough recovery from the shortages, challenges and unforeseen speed bumps caused by the pandemic, pollution, climate change and changes to the natural order that we haven’t even seen yet. Through the next few tough days or months, we need to preserve our hope for better days to come while putting our backs into making things better through our personal and collective adaptations.

Becky Nelson is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport, New Hampshire. You may reach her at [email protected].