WESTON, Mo. — Small business owners are feeling the effects of inflation, whether it's higher fuel prices or other factors.
The Kansas City Cattle Company is uniquely situated to feel these impacts in multiple ways.
"I think we're all nervous, because we don't see any relief in sight," Patrick Montgomery, with the Kansas City Cattle Company, said.
Montgomery said he's been feeling the impact of rising gas prices.
"It takes diesel to run your tractor, it takes gas to run your delivery vehicles and it takes gas to deliver cattle from X to Y," he said. "They impact hay prices, they impact corn prices, they impact all your feed costs."
From the farm in Weston, to retail space in Parkville, the effects are felt all the way down to the price tag.
"Since August of last year, we've raised our prices 35%, and that is us making about the same amount of profit as we did a year and a half ago," Montgomery said.
Montgomery said that when customers ask about the price increase in his products, his business transparent.
"This isn't money going straight into our pockets, this pays our fuel costs, our fertilizer costs and cattle prices we're paying other ranchers," he said.
He adds that there's a reason for there being no relief in sight as this current inflationary climate plays out long-term.
"It's going to get worse before it gets better," Montgomery said. "Farmers, ranchers, they're using these inputs — these higher fertilizer costs, higher corn prices, higher fuel price — that's going into the animals, into the crops right now, those are going to hit the market in the next 9 to 12 months."
Still, Montgomery and his team are pressing forward, even as they and their peers in the industry navigate uncertain terrain.
"It's a conversation we're all having, none of us have the right answers," he said.
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