Students participating in the annual 4-H livestock program in Gorham are learning a lesson in how a sagging economy can affect a farmer’s profits.

Jenn Grant, the Cumberland County 4-H leader who oversees a livestock growing program here that allows children ages 13-17 to raise cattle, sheep and pigs to sell at auction, said she and her young farmers have seen a significant increase in grain prices. That increase, she said, could have a detremental effect on the kids’ profits when they auction their sheep, steer and swine at the Cumberland Fair on Sept. 24.

Grant has eight participants raising livestock on her farm, Pineview, at 147 Mighty St. in Gorham. They enroll in the program to learn how to raise an animal from birth to adulthood and ready it for sale, which in turn teaches them responsibiity, how to keep records and the upside and downside of the farming business. Any profit made goes directly into the participants’ pockets, Grant said.

“We know the price of fuel is up, and it’s driving the price of corn higher,” she said. “Since the kids pay for the care of the animals themselves, they are quickly learning that farming isn’t an easy job and the economy and fuel prices especially can affect the amount of money they make.”

Last year, the price of grain was $8 per bag. Now it’s $12 per bag, Grant said.

Participants are seeing a large price jump from two years ago, Grant said. In 2006, for example, it cost the kids $63 per week to feed their pigs and cost nearly $500 per week for the cattle.

This year, however, it is costing them $111 per week for swine and $600 per week for the cattle.

Those prices are likely to affect the profits of the young farmers when they auction off their animals at the Cumberland Fair at 4 p.m. Sept. 24.

What’s happening in the 4-H program is a microcosm for the overall agriculture landscape, according to Seth Bradstreet III, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture.

Bradstreet said that farmers across the United States are spending more in feed and fuel, which raises their production and shipping costs and results in higher consumer prices at the grocery stores.

“Traditionally, farmers are pretty self-sufficient and find ways to get by,” he said this week. “In this case, they are seeing their income levels rise, but they are also seeing their expenses rise and are faced the with challenge of trying to come out ahead.”

Dan Smith, 16, who lives on the farm across the street from Pineview, has been participating in the 4-H program for four years. He entered the program to learn a little more about agriculture and business, and said he is worried he might not make as much money as he has in the past. He pays for the feed through profits he has earned in the past.

“If you lose a lot of money, it just makes the project not worth doing,” said Smith. “I hope I don’t lose money, but it is a possibility.”

Tom Grant, 17, Jenn Grant’s son, has been participating for four years and is in his final year of the program. He said he is worried about his eventual profit, but is trying to keep it in perspective.

“I know what I’m doing more, but I’m a little worried because there is a lot of competition at the fair, though really it’s about the experience and having fun,” said Grant, who wants to go to a trade school to be a machinist. “It would be pretty nice to at least raise a little money to pay for school.”

Jenn Grant said future participation does concern her.

“If you’re not hardly breaking even, kids are going to think ‘I don’t want to do this again, this wasn’t any fun,'” she said. “It might not be worth it to them if they only make $20.

The young farmers are learning a valuable lesson in economics and agriculture, she said.

“They’re raising these animals and are raising something for somebody else,” she said. “They can see if they make a profit or if they don’t make a profit, and this just teaches the kids how life is.”

4-H’ers learning tough economic lessons