‘This may just be the end’: Wisconsin farmers struggle to afford diesel during harvest season
Wisconsin’s agriculture secretary said his department has seen an increase in the volume of farmers calling for help with financial consulting and transition planning
Wisconsin farmer Joel Greeno can hardly afford to run his farm.
As the owner of 160 acres in Kendall, Wisconsin, he’s had to take on a large amount of credit card debt to afford the equipment and fuel to grow, harvest and transport his organic corn, hay and small grains. He’s being sued by creditors and has looked into declaring bankruptcy.
And as Greeno and other Wisconsin farmers enter this harvest season, the price of diesel that they need to power their machines is more expensive than ever before.
“It’s going to make things extremely challenging this year,” Greeno told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
In many parts of the state, diesel prices have doubled in the last year because of the war in Iran and the war between Russia and Ukraine. In the last month, the price of diesel has climbed from around $5.30 to more than $6.50 per gallon, according to AAA. Recent problems at oil refineries in Illinois and Indiana have exacerbated costs in the Great Lakes region.
Greeno, a current board member and former president of the nonprofit Family Farm Defenders, said that fuel costs will cut into already narrow margins for Wisconsin farmers.
“When you’re talking cents a bushel on your corn crop that you hope is profit … for a lot of guys, this may just be the end,” Greeno said.
Randy Romanski, the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, said his agency has seen evidence of that financial hardship.
“The volume of farmers calling for financial consulting and transition planning to our farm center staff is up this year,” Romanski said.
He attributed that to rising fuel prices, but also tariffs — like those placed on steel for canned produce.
https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-farmers-struggle-afford-diesel-harvest-season
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