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Costly harvest
Farmers find no way to pass on diesel fuel price hike, up 221%

By TIM MORAN
BEE STAFF WRITER
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Last Updated: September 3, 2005, 04:31:39 AM PDT


Trucking companies and airlines are adding surcharges to cope with
high fuel costs. School districts are contemplating curtailing field
trips.
But area farmers are just stuck with the soaring price of diesel
fuel.

The crops have to be harvested when they ripen, and there's no way
for a farmer to add a surcharge — farm commodities get the going
market price regardless of the cost to produce them.

"What other choice do you have?" asked Bruce Blodgett, executive
director of the San Joaquin County Farm Bureau. "You pay the price,
harvest the crop and hope it works out. It's going to be tough."

And while consumers haven't seen big increases in food prices,
retail prices will inevitably rise, said Ross Siragusa, president of
the California Tomato Growers Association.

Diesel fuel prices averaged $3.23 a gallon in Modesto Friday,
compared with $2.22 a year ago, a 45 percent increase.

That's not what farmers pay, however. Because farm equipment isn't
used on the road, they don't pay road taxes on diesel fuel.

The farm diesel price was $2.89 a gallon Friday, compared with about
90 cents two years ago, Siragusa said — a 221 percent increase over
the two years.

What that means to individual farmers varies from farm to farm and
commodity to commodity, said Wayne Zipser, executive manager of the
Stanislaus County Farm Bureau.

Vegetable crops, for instance, use more fuel per acre than almond or
walnut orchards, because of the extra tilling and field preparation,
and activity during the season and harvesting, Zipser said.

The extra $1.99 a gallon for fuel from two years ago means tomato
growers are spending an extra $169.15 an acre for fuel during the
course of a season, Siragusa said. That adds $4.39 per ton to the
cost of producing the tomatoes.

100 gallons of fuel in 12 hours

Growers get about $50 a ton for the crop, he said. "That ($4.39) is
a big figure. They have to eat that increase," Siragusa said.

Joe Valente, vineyard manager at Kautz Farms in San Joaquin County,
said one mechanical harvester team burns through 100 gallons of fuel
during a single 12-hour shift.

"It's expensive. In farming, we are at the mercy of everyone else,
we can't demand a price," Valente said. "Crops have to get
harvested, and there is a small window there."

Higher costs of moving commodities like almonds to a huller and then
a processor by truck also hit farmers, Zipser said. "Costs are up 30
percent to 40 percent. It's not just in the field," he said.

Siragusa noted that the processing tomato industry sends 250,000
truckloads of tomatoes to canneries each season. Canneries are
having to revise hauling contracts to account for higher fuel prices
to make sure truckers are available to move the tomatoes, Siragusa
said.

He said farmers will have to think hard about whether they will
plant tomatoes next spring. "They will have to look at alternatives
where the margins are better, with less field work," he said.

Prices to tomato growers will have to be higher next year, Siragusa
said, and the hike will be passed along to consumers.

"By and large, the consumer hasn't felt the brunt of the pricing
change, but it's just a matter of time," he said.

Farmers with diesel irrigation pumps have been faced with the
decision of whether to shift to electric pumps for air quality
reasons, Zipser said — but now it is an economic decision.

Most farmers in the Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts already
have electric pumps because of the cheaper electric rates, Zipser
said. But many farmers in Pacific Gas & Electric Co. territory on
the West Side still have diesel pumps.

Thieves come in the night

Another problem that comes with higher fuel prices is theft.

Sgt. Giles New of the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department said he
has seen an increase in fuel thefts in rural areas in recent months.

The thefts tend to be from above-ground tanks on farms. The thieves
come at night, cut locks and siphon the fuel into 55-gallon drums or
plastic gas cans, New said.

The numbers aren't large. New said he has handled four cases in the
last six weeks. But many of the smaller thefts probably aren't being
reported, he said.

The timing of the fuel price run-up couldn't be worse, coming just
as many California crops are ready for harvest.

"It's pretty frustrating right now," Blodgett said. "The harvest
season is here, and we see fuel prices go through the roof. It's
going to really harm a lot of growers and ranchers."

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at 578-2349 or
tmoran@modbee.com.