News

Fall fuel costs already a concern

Some farmers are already doing the math on what it might cost to fuel harvest equipment.

Tim Waibel grows corn and soybeans in south-central Minnesota and says one of his tractors has a 525-gallon fuel tank and burns about 35 gallons of diesel per hour.

“On a big day, we run fuel out like at 6 or 7 at night, we’ve got a couple guys that like to work a little bit later at night, (and) certainly when you start doing them numbers and use fuel as $5 (a gallon for example), that’s $2,500 bucks a day just for one tractor.”

Like many farmers, he’ll have several tractors going this fall, plus a combine and semi-trucks.

“Certainly it’s going to whack our checkbook very hard this fall.”

The Courtland-area farmer currently serves as chairman of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association.