TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Gas prices in Topeka are nearing around $4 per gallon.
Unleaded gas isn’t the only one with a climbing price; diesel is also skyrocketing.
Diesel prices hit their highest level ever in the Sunflower State during the week of September 21st, and those in Kansas agriculture are feeling it.
Combines and tractors work the land and run on diesel fuel. Farms are feeling the effects of those higher prices.
“It is gonna make a big difference to the bottom line of farmers this year cause, you know, they really have no way to pass that cost on directly to anybody else because they’re in a competitive market here, so farmers really are gonna kind of have to eat that diesel cost themselves,” Gregg Ibendahl, an associate extension professor for the Kansas State University Department of Agricultural Economics, said.
Ibendahl says higher prices aren’t just from the Iran war. Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s refineries are also contributing…
“That has really curtailed the amount of diesel fuel that Russia has been able to export,” Ibendahl said. “They used to be one of the world’s biggest exporters of diesel fuel.”
While it may seem like gas prices are constantly fluctuating, the same can’t be said for diesel.
“The demand for diesel is more inelastic than for gasoline, meaning that it’s harder for farmers and businesses to cut back on the amount of diesel fuel they use when the price goes up,” Ibendahl said.
The average amount it’ll cost farmers could make or break their profits.
“Probably talking maybe like, you know, an extra $20,000. It may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but for a lot of farmers that could be the difference between having a profitable year and losing money here,” Ibendahl said.
When your wallet might start to feel even tighter:
“The effect from the overall higher prices may not show up tomorrow at the grocery store, but I think over time we’ll start to see those things show up a little bit,” Ibendahl said.
Ibendahl said his long-term forecast could see $6 diesel prices for a year.
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