Farmers face rising diesel costs during harvest season

Lincoln, Neb. — Rising diesel prices are adding to costs for farmers during one of the most fuel-intensive times of the year.

Farmer Dave Nielsen said harvest means long days in the field and large amounts of diesel to keep combines, tractors, trucks and semis moving.

“The combine behind me here, you know, we’ll run 150 gallons a day through that thing when it’s pulling hard,” Nielsen said.

Between all of his equipment, Nielsen expects to spend between $1,000 and $1,500 a day on fuel during harvest.

“We’re probably going to be spending a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars a day on fuel between the trucks, the tractors, semis running on the road, the two combines we have,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen said he is currently being quoted $5.62 per gallon for dyed diesel used in his farm equipment and $6.18 per gallon for road diesel delivered to the farm.

Those prices are new territory for Nielsen.

“I’ve never seen diesel over six dollars in my lifetime. I don’t know if I’ve seen it over five very often,” Nielsen said. “So yeah, it’s going to hurt.”

Nielsen said he wishes he had contracted fuel earlier, before prices climbed. He expects his fuel costs to be about double this year.

Despite the higher prices, Nielsen said there is not much room to cut back during harvest. His combine can run from around 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.

“We can’t leave the crop in the field, you know, we’re not going to wait for fuel to go down,” Nielsen said. “I mean, the crop needs to be taken out.”

For Nielsen, that harvested crop represents his income for the entire year, meaning the fuel needed to bring it in is a cost he has to take on.