Diesel Price Spike Drives Up Corn Harvest Costs
The recent surge in diesel fuel prices is putting a strain on corn farmers' margins as they face higher costs for harvesting their crops. The national average for a gallon of on-road diesel has risen to $6.53, up from $3.69 last year, while off-road diesel averages $6.29 per gallon.
For corn farmers, the cost of diesel fuel is a significant expense, with some estimates suggesting they may spend up to $12.58 an acre just on combine fuel alone. With an estimated 96.7 million acres of corn planted for the 2026/27 season, this could translate to a total expenditure of $486-1,216 million.
According to Steve Kuiper, president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, farmers who contracted fuel ahead of time are now paying twice as much as they did when they signed their contracts. 'Fuel had been one of the items that had been fairly stable for quite a while,' he said, 'so not a lot of folks were contracting fuel.'
The rise in diesel prices is largely attributed to supply chain disruptions related to the U.S.-Iran conflict and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.