Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dan Conine <dconine@bertramwireless.com>]

Actually, it's going up faster than articles are written.
I'm not buying fertilizers, but my brother's prices went from $400/ton 
last year to $1100/ton, and that's with locking in an early discount.
Diesel is 4.00/ gallon on the road in Wisconsin.

Not worth starting the truck, but what are you going to do when things 
have to get hauled?
Most people don't realize that's why gas prices are still at 3.00 -3.50: 
because they can carpool or choose not to drive as much. People using 
diesel are trapped in a loop until the economy shifts away from highway 
transportation, and it's going to take a while before Want-Mart parks 
that warehouse on wheels.
Corporations are cutting back on UPS and FedEx shipments, but the 
inertia of the last century of diesel slaves is a pretty big juggernaut, 
and the train system hasn't been maintained to shift any more cargo that 
it is right now. People have to be retrained, scheduling has to be 
rethought, engines and cars have to be built, etc. All things that will 
only be done AFTER the current system has failed badly enough.

What a Way to Go.

Dan C.
> Electricity, diesel, fertilizer prices tough on farmers, ranchers
> Mar 23, 11:38 AM EDT
> By BETSY BLANEY
> AP Agriculture Writer
> http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TX_AGR_COTTON_ENERGY_COSTS_TXOL-?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
>
>
> LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- South Plains cotton producer Don Langston is eager for a 
> "big rain."
>
> Without it he'll have to keep irrigation pumps running to water thousands of 
> acres of dusty, parched land so there's enough moisture to plant this year's 
> crop in a couple of months.
>
> He figures he'll spend as much as $50 more an acre than he did last year, 
> when rainfall was plentiful, even by West Texas standards.
>
> "We're going to have to have a good crop just to break even," Langston said. "I'm 
> OK. Just need a big rain."
>
> But for Langston and other agriculture producers across the U.S., electricity 
> costs aren't the only concern. Diesel fuel and fertilizer prices are also 
> weighing on them.
>
> Last year, a farmer could buy a ton of fertilizer for about $450; the price 
> tag is now closer to $1,000, American Farm Bureau Federation chief economist 
> Bob Young said.
>