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Fuel prices soar during harvest

A southwest Iowa farmer says the latest jump in diesel prices came as a surprise and it’s impacting his bottom line.

Ray Gaesser tells Brownfield he’s seen sharply higher prices in his area over the last few weeks. “We just filled up with fuel again and it is 70 cents a gallon higher than what we paid in August,” he said.

Gaesser says the rise in fuel prices has come in the middle of harvest, but… “You can’t help it. You got to have it,” he said. “It’s the same way with anything else that you do. If you got to get the job done, you’ve got to have the fuel and the energy to do it.”

AAA says the national average price of diesel is $5.16 per gallon, up 30 cents from a week ago.