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California Farmers Struggle to Pay for Diesel Fuel for the Harvest

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

Sep. 3--Trucking companies and airlines are adding surcharges to cope with high fuel costs. School districts are contemplating curtailing field trips.

But area farmers are just stuck with the soaring price of diesel fuel.

The crops have to be harvested when they ripen, and there's no way for a farmer to add a surcharge -- farm commodities get the going market price regardless of the cost to produce them.

"What other choice do you have?" asked Bruce Blodgett, executive director of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau. "You pay the price, harvest the crop and hope it works out. It's going to be tough."

And while consumers haven't seen big increases in food prices, retail prices will inevitably rise, said Ross Siragusa, president of the California Tomato Growers Association.

Diesel fuel prices averaged $3.23 a gallon in Modesto Friday, compared with $2.22 a year ago, a 45 percent increase.

That's not what farmers pay, however. Because farm equipment isn't used on the road, they don't pay road taxes on diesel fuel.

The farm diesel price was $2.89 a gallon Friday, compared with about 90 cents two years ago, Siragusa said -- a 221 percent increase over the two years.

What that means to individual farmers varies from farm to farm and commodity to commodity, said Wayne Zipser, executive manager of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau.

Vegetable crops, for instance, use more fuel per acre than almond or walnut orchards, because of the extra tilling and field preparation, and activity during the season and harvesting, Zipser said.

The extra $1.99 a gallon for fuel from two years ago means tomato growers are spending an extra $169.15 an acre for fuel during the course of a season, Siragusa said. That adds $4.39 per ton to the cost of producing the tomatoes.

Growers get about $50 a ton for the crop, he said. "That ($4.39) is a big figure. They have to eat that increase," Siragusa said.

Joe Valente, vineyard manager at Kautz Farms in San Joaquin County, said one mechanical harvester team burns through 100 gallons of fuel during a single 12-hour shift.

"It's expensive. In farming, we are at the mercy of everyone else, we can't demand a price," Valente said. "Crops have to get harvested, and there is a small window there."

Higher costs of moving commodities like almonds to a huller and then a processor by truck also hit farmers, Zipser said. "Costs are up 30 percent to 40 percent. It's not just in the field," he said.

Siragusa noted that the processing tomato industry sends 250,000 truckloads of tomatoes to canneries each season. Canneries are having to revise hauling contracts to account for higher fuel prices to make sure truckers are available to move the tomatoes, Siragusa said.

He said farmers will have to think hard about whether they will plant tomatoes next spring. "They will have to look at alternatives where the margins are better, with less field work," he said.

Prices to tomato growers will have to be higher next year, Siragusa said, and the hike will be passed along to consumers.

"By and large, the consumer hasn't felt the brunt of the pricing change, but it's just a matter of time," he said.

Farmers with diesel irrigation pumps have been faced with the decision of whether to shift to electric pumps for air quality reasons, Zipser said -- but now it is an economic decision.

Most farmers in the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts already have electric pumps because of the cheaper electric rates, Zipser said. But many farmers in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. territory on the West Side still have diesel pumps.

Another problem that comes with higher fuel prices is theft.

Sgt. Giles New of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said he has seen an increase in fuel thefts in rural areas in recent months.

The thefts tend to be from above-ground tanks on farms. The thieves come at night, cut locks and siphon the fuel into 55-gallon drums or plastic gas cans, New said.

The numbers aren't large. New said he has handled four cases in the last six weeks. But many of the smaller thefts probably aren't being reported, he said.

The timing of the fuel price run-up couldn't be worse, coming just as many California crops are ready for harvest.

"It's pretty frustrating right now," Blodgett said. "The harvest season is here, and we see fuel prices go through the roof. It's going to really harm a lot of growers and ranchers."

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Modesto Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Modesto Bee

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