Farming Costs

The price of gasoline is hitting our farmers hard:

Farmers are facing rising expenses this year, and fuel is not the only culprit.

"Fuel costs are a big deal, but it's not so much about what we put in the tractor, it's the cost of fertilizer, the cost of seed, the cost of transportation and everything that comes with high fuel prices," Westport farmer Darren Engelhardt said. "The cost of everything has probably gone up 30 percent from last year to this year."

Allan May, an Extension agricultural economist, said fertilizer prices have been especially troublesome and that some farmers have started changing crops.

"In the prospective planning report issued in March, it showed a very huge decline in what farmers are planting for corn this year," May said. "The reason for that is the cost of nitrogen fertilizer is very high. The estimate is a 100,000-acre switch in South Dakota from corn to soybeans. That's a real direct response to energy costs."

He said experts expected farmers to plant fewer acres of corn, "but not this much."

Fuel prices have soared, May said. "It stretches beyond just the fuel farmers use. Farmers and others in the agriculture industry are going to start paying, if they aren't already, more for all the goods and services. Right now, we're kind of in (a) position where we'll be dealing with higher fuel costs for an indefinite amount of time."

Engelhardt bought his fuel in bulk and is storing it in a tank.

"There's really nothing else you can do," he said. "As expensive as the land is now, you can't not put a crop in. For farmers, it doesn't make much difference. If I need to go to town to get a part, I go to town and get a part."

Engelhardt believes gasoline could hit $3.50 a gallon by July.