Fuel, fertilizer prices expected to keep climbing

Central Illinois farmers planting their corn and soybean crops are paying fuel prices 113 percent higher than four years ago, according to a University of Missouri energy economist.

Fertilizer prices – largely based on energy costs due to the petroleum products comprising fertilizer – have increased 70 percent during the same period.

Lori Wilcox, UM Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute economist, expects fuel and fertilizer prices to increase 10 percent to 15 percent this year. In fact, she sees no relief in sight. Her projections show fuel and fertilizer costs increasing for the next 10 years above 2005 levels.

Abner Womack, FAPRI co-director, said the trend is unprecedented. In the past, energy prices would come back down following a spike, he said.

Pantagraph.com