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2026 crop year optimism fades as diesel prices continue to climb

A group of Ohio farmers say record-high diesel prices could threaten the financial viability of their operations.

“It’s really looking bad for our budgets.”

West central Ohio farmer Scott Haerr says the current state of the ag economy is making it difficult for producers to secure their harvest needs.

“We only pre-bought about 60 percent of our fuel,” he says. “We’ve just kind of been going hand to mouth all summer hoping that the prices go down, but they haven’t.”

Southwest Ohio farmer Eric Tipton says producers are facing new financial challenges as the market sees some improvement.

“The punches keep coming,” he says. “We finally saw a runup in the grain markets, which has been really nice to see, and then we take another shot in the gut. There’s a lot of things that are happening in the geopolitical space right now that have a pretty big impact on our bottom line. That’s pretty scary.”

Jed Bower, president of the National Corn Growers Association, says $6 diesel is impacting farmer optimism. 

“I think we’ve got a decent crop, and we were excited to get out there and see what it was,” he says. “When we use more fuel during this time of year than we do any other time, we’re hoping to finish out the year at breakeven at best.”

He tells Brownfield, “It’s our fourth year in a row of losing money on our farms. To put a nail in our coffin as we’re getting ready for harvest, we’re seeing diesel prices at absolutely tremendous record numbers. It’s heartbreaking.”

Northwest Ohio farmer Rusty Goebel says the hits will likely be felt throughout the supply chain.

“At $6.50 a gallon, whether you’re a farmer or not, everybody in the United States pays for diesel fuel,” he says. “They may not realize it, but they do. Breaking even on some of these farms is going to be tough with these fuel costs we have to pay.”

According to AAA, the national average price of diesel reached an all-time high of $6.51 per gallon on Sunday, up more than 60 percent from this time last year.

AUDIO: Scott Haeer

AUDIO: Jed Bower

AUDIO: Eric Tipton

AUDIO: Rusty Goebel