By Clint Thompson
Diesel prices have hit a new all-time high which makes it a new low for fruit and vegetable farmers.
The national average price of a gallon of diesel surpassed $6 for the first time, a sobering statistic for producers already coping with high input costs.
According to AAA, diesel costs on Friday in Alabama were recorded at $5.77 per gallon. In Florida, it was $6.06 per gallon, and in Georgia it was recorded at $5.89 per gallon.
In contrast, this time a year ago, AAA reported the national average price for diesel was around $3.70 per gallon.
Southeast farmers discussed the rising diesel costs.
Dustin Grooms, who grows strawberries with Fancy Farms in Plant City, Florida
“That definitely hurts, especially this time of year when we’re running a lot of tractors. You thought that the prices would be going down instead of up, so it’s kind of confusing on all that.
“We’re running more tractors. We’re using more diesel this time of year than any other thing. It’s going to sting in the pocketbook for sure, but it’s something you got to have. You can’t farm without it. But it is just the cost of doing business, but we don’t get to pass that on to the consumers. We just eat it.”
Sam Watson, vegetable farmer in Colquitt County, Georgia
“I mean this is going to be bad. It’s already bad enough, with everything else that we’re dealing with and fertilizer and seed and parts and, labor, they just keep piling on more to us. And then you’ve got every farmer in the nation that’s about to go into harvest season and just burn millions of gallons of diesel fuel. This is bad.”