Spiking prices are doing no favors to ag producers already dealing with other high input costs.
Lyon County Extension ag agent Brian Rees, a guest on KVOE’s Morning Show on Tuesday, says it’s already expensive to feed livestock with corn prices around $7 a bushel. Then you factor in diesel prices, which shot up to $5.49 a gallon last week and are now as high as $5.35 locally.
Diesel is still as high as $5.49 in places like Lebo and Lyndon.
Rees says increased gas and diesel prices are also impacting items that are derived from fuels, including fertilizers like nitrogen. Rees says nitrogen prices have stabilized on the high end, although at levels above where buyers would like to see them. Other items like equipment — tractors and combines — as well as lubricants and tires have also seen price increases.
Commodity prices are still relatively high, and Rees says producers might make as much money overall as they did four years ago — but the input costs will be higher almost across the board.
