High Cost of Diesel Hitting Hard at Farm Industry

The pain of higher fuel prices is being felt throughout the food industry.

Many of the truckers who distribute produce are charging higher prices or getting out of the business, making it harder for farmers to get their crops to wholesalers. Distributors providing fuel directly to small farmers are finding it hard to buy fuel and sell it at a profit in such a volatile market.

Fertilizer manufacturers are also facing much higher domestic natural gas prices, driving the prices they charge higher. The fertilizer’s basic component, anhydrous ammonia, is made by combining natural gas and air at high temperature and pressure. The chemical now sells for about $416 a ton — up from $250 a ton three years ago.

“Fertilizer prices went crazy,” said Craig Ito, grows peaches, plums, nectarines and other fruit and in Fresno, the county with the country’s highest farming grosses.
NCTimes.com