COLUMBUS, Ohio — This week gas hit a record cost in Franklin County, as it averaged more than $5 a gallon. The cost of diesel is climbing right along with it. The current average cost of a gallon of diesel in the state of Ohio is $5.93.
“Diesel fuel is such a major component for agriculture that really it’s needed all year round, as far as trucking commodities from point A to point B,” said Ty Higgins with the Ohio Farm Bureau.
Higgins said prices have more than doubled since last year.
“Upwards of $1,000 a day is what it cost farmers with current fuel prices, last year that number was just around $350 a day,” Higgins said.
But for Josh Yoder from Yoder Farms, he's spending even more.
“Our diesel cost of about there about 2 to 2 1/2 times what they were last year. Just to run our planter tractor, I figure we’re spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 to $1,500 a day for one tractor,” Yoder said.
Yoder Farms raises corn and soybeans. Yoder said they've just finished with planting and are only about a quarter of the way through the season. But if prices continue to rise, he said it'll have to affect the consumer cost.
“It definitely makes you a little bit anxious, especially when you start thinking about harvest. If fuel prices stay the same as they are now, you’re looking at over a dollar a mile fuel costs alone to try to get the crops we produce to market,” said Yoder.
10TV asked AAA about these prices and asked if they saw an end in sight, for the rising prices, they say it's not looking good.
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