Despite inflation inching its way down, consumer confidence fell to the lowest it’s been since July 2022. Part of that may be due to food prices, which continue to hit wallets hard.

April Hemmes is a soybean farmer in Iowa. She joined “Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal to talk about the state of crops and what the outlook for the next year looks like from her field. An edited transcript of their conversation is below.

Kai Ryssdal: We have caught you I think betwixt and between. Where are you and what is happening?

April Hemmes: You have. I flew out of Minneapolis this morning to Dallas Fort Worth. And let’s just say there were storms in the area. And I’m finally here with a bunch of farmers, so we’re ready to go.

Ryssdal: And you’re going to Brussels or something?

Hemmes: I am. It’s a European Feed Association. So that’s where I’m headed to schmooze with the Europeans.

Ryssdal: Alright, so you left Iowa with seed in the ground, right? You’re done planting.

Hemmes: Oh, I am done planting, thankfully. And it’s amazing. I have had more rain in the month of May than I had all of last year’s planting season from April until October. In one month! I got everything in the ground. But I’m with farmers who either aren’t done yet from the North or are ready to replant hundreds of acres south of me.

Ryssdal: Sorry, they have to go do it all over again?

Hemmes: Yep, because they planted it, it got so much rain the seed rots in the ground or doesn’t come up, so then they have to go back out and replant it. It’s why a lot of people don’t farm.

Ryssdal: Last time I think we spoke to you, you said the weather had been all kinds of janky for you, and yet you had, like, record yields.

Hemmes: I know. So who knows what’s going to happen this year? I knew you were gonna ask me that question. You know, well, we’ll see how it goes. But you just never know anymore.

Ryssdal: Have you sold your futures yet? Have you sold any of this stuff that just got in the ground?

Hemmes: I have. I’ve sold about 30%. Our co-op gave me a heck of a bid. But it’s kinda like wait and see because this market just keeps going. Like soybeans are down 18 cents today and then they could go up 50 tomorrow. Who knows?

Ryssdal: But wait, if your co-op — which I imagine is smart, because they’re farmers and people who do this for a living — why’d they give you such a heck of a bid when prices are kind of all over the place and down today?

Hemmes: Well, they got their behinds covered some way, that’s for sure. But as a farmer, it was a $5 bid, right? My cost of production is below that.

Ryssdal: Sorry, wait, is that like $5 a bushel? Or $5 a what?

Hemmes: Yes. $5 a bushel, and that’s what we sell on. And so if it goes up, I hopefully have way more to sell. So yeah, I’m selling way ahead of time.

Kai Ryssdal: Right, right. Alright, let’s get back to your trip. You’re talking to European feed people? And how much do you sell overseas? Is that like a real thing for you? Or is it just sort of a thing you do on the side to get to go and travel and schmooze?

Hemmes: So I’m on the United Soybean Board and 60% of our soybeans are exported. And two-thirds of them are exported through either value added through the animals, and then whole beans, oil and meal. And the meals become a lot more because of the bigger crush. So making more renewable diesel. So, it’s a real thing. And these companies like to hear how we raise our soybeans, what we’re doing to care for the land. So a lot of that comes into play because that’s what their customers are asking for. And I love to tell my story and talk about the farm.

Ryssdal: I know you do. I know. That’s why we keep calling you back. Look, you’ll know this and everybody who farms or is, you know, farm-adjacent knows this. It’s super complicated. What you do, it’s really complicated.

Hemmes: Well, there’s a lot of balls in the air, that’s for sure, especially this time of the year. You know, we’re trying to get planted and so we have to be a little bit of everything. We have to be an agronomist, a marketing person, fix our equipment when we can, be a mechanic, so, yeah, it is complicated. It’s not like we just throw our seeds out on the ground. Although some other people say, “April, you can throw seeds out in your driveway and it’ll grow 40 bushel beans,” and I go, “Only 40?” So we have fun ribbing each other but it’s not easy, and it’s a lot of risk. So you have to just really be nice to your banker.