BERKS COUNTY, Pa. – Harvest season is about to get underway, but one local farmer says soaring diesel costs are putting even more pressure on an already tight bottom line.
David Wolfskill, who farms land in both Berks and Montgomery counties, says he just paid the highest price he’s ever paid for diesel fuel.
His combines and other harvesting equipment will hit the fields next week for corn and soybeans, but fueling all of that equipment is getting expensive.
Wolfskill says he ordered 2,500 gallons of off-road diesel for $5.25 a gallon this week. He says in the past he has typically paid between $2.75 and $3.50 a gallon before this latest increase.
“It’s not pretty, and not just us, all farmers in general. The cost just for diesel per day to run the harvesting equipment, the trucks, everything to support the combine, to support harvest, it’s going to cost us right around $2,000 a day just to run the harvesting equipment,” said Wolfskill.
The farmer says the equipment is ready and at this point, farmers have little choice but to absorb the higher costs.