By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have combined to put inflationary pressure on the price of goods.

Farmers can get $11.55 a bushel for wheat at Cooperative Grain and Supply’s Marion location if they have wheat to sell.

However, fertilizer prices have doubled from a year ago, according to manager John Ottensmeier.

A farmer who top-dressed 200 acres of wheat in February received a $17,000 bill. Some farmers have thousands of acres.

Anhydrous ammonia fertilizer has been hard to get.

“We made it through the season, but it was pretty tough,” Ottensmeier said.

The co-op is short on barbed wire because a transformer blew at a supplier’s plant, he said. Parts for a new transformer are proving difficult to get.

“If we try to get steel products, we’re out of luck,” he said.

Doug Regnier of Marion Auto Parts said anything that contains metal goes up every month. Oil and oil filters have been hard to get. Scarcity of oil additives seems to be a problem, Regnier said.

Despite increasing prices, business remains steady, he said.

Carlsons’ Grocery is having trouble getting paper plates, paper towels, and bath tissue.

“We’re still getting them, but sometimes deliveries are slow,” co-owner Greg Carlson said. “I guess there were not enough workers at the manufacturing plant.”

The shelves for canned cat food were almost bare Tuesday. Carlson said he heard that an aluminum shortage and a shortage of ingredients hindered production.

Meat prices have leveled off but sales have been down for a while, Carlson said.