Bart Bittner has been adapting to diesel prices all year. The central Illinois farmer relied on fuel he had stored on his farm to run his equipment for as long as he could this spring while diesel prices skyrocketed. When prices fell slightly this summer, he refilled his reserve.
But now he and farmers across the U.S. heading into harvest season are forced to contend with record-high fuel prices during an already economically tumultuous year.
“Of course it’s the worst timing ever, cause this is when we use the most diesel fuel with all the equipment in the field along with the trucks that we have on the road to haul the grain to market,” Bittner said.
A gallon of diesel topped $6 for the first time in mid-September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And the price has only gone up since. Across most of the central U.S., diesel prices are averaging $6.68 per gallon. In Texas and other states along the Gulf Coast, the average is $6.17.
Diesel prices had already been on the rise the past few years due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. But prices jumped after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in February, blocking the Strait of Hormuz. A quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade goes through the strait, according to the International Energy Agency.
Steep fuel prices are hitting farmers in a year where they’re already contending with other high input costs, said Michael Langemeier, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. Prices for farm equipment and fertilizer have also shot up this year amid the Trump administration’s tariffs and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The only silver lining, many farmers say, is that they’re expecting higher corn and soybean prices this season.
“This would be a huge crisis if we hadn’t seen the increase in crop prices we’ve seen recently,” Langemeier said. “That’s helping. It’s not curing the high input cost problem.”
Some farmers, like Iowa Corn Growers Association President Steve Kuiper, are lamenting that the cost of diesel means these higher prices won’t turn the tide against rising input costs.
“This would have gotten us into a point where we could have been decently making a few bucks,” he said. “And it’s hurting that aspect of it right now.”
Farmers like Bittner in central Illinois are also dealing with the outcome of late summer storms. Bittner said strong wind and heavy rain in August downed about 1,000 acres of corn on his farm.
“That downed corn is gonna require us to actually probably spend more time in the field, which unfortunately translates to probably more fuel to try to get this crop in and do the best we can to harvest as many ears as we possibly can and not lose any more than we have to,” he said.
Transportation costs rise
Tory Meyr is a fourth generation farmer growing corn and soybeans in southeast Missouri. The diesel he purchased to run his farm equipment this year was 60% more expensive than last year, he said, and that doesn’t include the diesel he’ll still need to buy to transport the harvested grain.
“That’s tremendously higher,” he said. “I have three semis that we run, and each one costs about $1,500 to fill up.”
Low levels on the Mississippi River, an important export corridor for corn and soybeans, are also pushing up transportation costs.
“More and more people are vying for that freight, which drives the cost up,” Meyr said, “and then they’re also raising the cost of the freight just because of diesel fuel, which is what the tugboats run on.”
These increased costs are heavily influencing where, how and when farmers transport their harvest, said Kuiper with the Iowa Corn Growers Association. He said many producers are reconsidering grain storage plans this year.
“You might bring it to a more local elevator than bring it further away because added fuel costs,” he said. “You don’t gain that much of a price difference if you’re having to drive further.”
For Meyr, that means holding off on transporting his harvested crop — at least until the Mississippi River is higher. He’s planning to keep his grain in storage on his farm and haul it later in the winter.
In the meantime, Meyr said he is trying to cut down on diesel use any way that he can.
“It’s 97 degrees today, so when they’re waiting to get filled by the grain cart, normally we’d just let them run, so the guys can sit in the air conditioning,” he said. “But we’re turning them off, so they’re not running all day long while they’re waiting to be filled each time.”
Planning for next season
There’s not much farmers can do at this point in the season to avoid high diesel prices, but many are considering ways they can use less fuel after harvest.
Ben Brown, a senior research associate and extension agricultural economist at the University of Missouri, thinks a lot of farmers will take the approach of doing less field work in the fall and spring to bring down diesel use.
“I also think we’ll see fewer chemical applications,” he said. “So instead of maybe a two-pass crop protection in the growing season, maybe just a single-pass and doing a higher rate.”
But that might not be a good option for farmers who have never tried using less chemical applications or reducing tillage, said Ryan Mackenthun. He’s president of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and grows soybeans and corn on his farm in central Minnesota.
“It’s really hard to do new things unless you’ve experimented with them before and know their end result,” he said.
Bittner in Illinois said he is planning to reduce the amount of tillage he does this fall. He’s also rethinking how much storage he has on his property for fuel.
“Today we were just making an adjustment and trying to figure out how to maybe get some more storage on the farm so that we have a little more leverage with where we buy it and how we buy it,” he said. “So when we get those opportunities, maybe we can book a little more.”
Langemeier said farmers who have the storage might consider buying some of their fuel now, in case prices continue to rise. Ultimately, he said he doesn’t think diesel prices will come down until the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened.
“If we can move more through [the strait], the price wouldn’t continue to increase,” he said. “But really if we want to get back to where we were early this year, the conflict in the Middle East at least needs to be resolved.”
This story was produced in partnership with Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public media newsrooms in the Midwest and Great Plains. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.
