The price of diesel is hitting record highs just when many U.S. farmers need it to power combines, tractors and other equipment to harvest two of the nation’s largest commodities, soybeans and corn.
The spike adds to an already tough year for these farmers, who also faced higher costs for fertilizer, seeds and equipment.
Diesel hit a record price in the U.S. on Sept. 4, soaring to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time as the six-month war with Iran disrupted the world’s flow of fuel. It has gone even higher since then, going for an average price of $6.05 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA.
“Those prices hurt,” said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “And it’s not just the harvesting. It’s the hauling of everything, moving the grain or the silage from the field to the farm and then from the farm to wherever they’re selling it.”
Jason Kurtz, a corn and soybean farmer near Forest City, Missouri, said he was paying twice as much for diesel this year. His combine uses 200 gallons (760 liters) of fuel a day; he expected to run it for 30 days. He also needed diesel for a tractor and trucks.
“We have to harvest,” he said in an interview at his farm about 90 miles (145 kilometers) outside Kansas City on Tuesday. “We have to run the machines. We have to use the diesel, so it cuts into our bottom line.”
Kurtz, 49, said his finances were “already tight” this year after he also had to pay more for fertilizer and chemicals.
Yeah! It’s a bad time for all of us. But why? Why are the oil companies dragging their feet on this? I blame them for the high grocery prices. But oil rules the World, so who am I to question…
I thought the U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world? A new refinery hasn’t been built in this country for decades. More refineries will produce more gasoline an diesel. There is no excuse for us importing foreign oil and going broke just trying to commute back and forth to work. Diesel is 2 dollars more than gasoline at the pump and it is causing shipping cost to explode, and diesel is actually a byproduct of refined gasoline. Farmers are going to go broke buying fuel at double the prices while their crops are still selling at prices from years ago. Cut the government and EPA red tape and build more refineries now.
Bad time for everybody. It makes the price of everything you buy higher.