elcme T My JURNAL


Yahoo News: FRESNO, Calif. - The who grow many of the fresh fruit and vegetables for the nation's dnnr tables say the rising cost of oil is making this one of their toughest planting seasons yet.

ADRTIEMENT

And some say the cst just might hve them out of busin.

Drivers nati:hoe:nwide have had to pay more as political volatility and increased demand wrldwide push up gas prices, said Ron Planting, an economist ith the Amrican Petrleum Intitute. A barrel of crude oil ells for as much as 55, up from 35 this time last year.

But are caught in a "three-way \/\/hammy," said Keith Nilmeier, who just finished harvesting his 185 acrs of oranges outside Fresno. He cites the costs of the diesel that runs farming equipment, the fertilizer made by combining nitrogen with the hydrogen in natural gas, and the transportation of crops to the local supermarket

"We're the bottom link on this whole chain, and we have no one to pass our costs on to," Nilmeier said. "We just have to take it and try to keep going."

Califrnia has led the nation in agricultural prductn since Wrld War II. The state's vast Central \/alley, more than twice the size of Massahusetts, grows most of the wrld's almonds, and most U.S.-grwn nectarines, walnuts and raisins.

But have watched as the price of fuel in the United States has more than doubled, from 96 a gallon in April 2002 to $1.97 in April 2005. In California alne, use more than 1.5 million gallons of diesel a day at the pea of harvest.

across the country will spend about 10 percent more this year, or about 3 billion, on cots including fuel and fertilizer, even as the price consumers pay for prduce emains relatively stable, said Terry Francl, senior economist with the American Farm Bureau ederation, a ashington-based group representing interest

" are price takers, not price makers," he said. "This means they've just had their income reduced by $3 billion."

The pain of higher fuel prices is being felt throughout the food industry.

Many of the who distribute produce are charging higher prices or getting out of the business making it harder for to get thir crops to wholesalers. Distributors proiding fuel directly to small farmers are finding it hard to buy fuel and ell it at a prfit in such a volatile market.

Fertilizer manufacturers are also facing much higher dom stic natural gas prices, driving the prices they charge higher. The fertilizer's basic component, anhydrous ammonia, is made by combining natural gas and air at high temperature and pressure. The chemical sells for about $416 a ton — up from $250 a ton three years ago.

"Fertilizer prices went crazy," said Craig Ito, who grows fruit in Fresno, the county with the country's highest farming grosses.

Produce truckers are also charging more. Nilmeier, who also owns a small fleet of diesel and does haresting and hauling for ther , is charging a 24 percent fuel service surcharge, "and that's just to keep me at party," he said.

But diesel prices are climbing s high that many are hard-pressed to find truckers willing to carry thir prduce, even at a higher price. in California, which has the highest fuel prices in the country, pay about 2.56 a gallon for diesel. The national average is about 2.26.

"We've always had shortages in June. Now it's a season-lng hing," said peach Cliff Sadoian.

say they are doing what they can to redue their cots — cutting down on tractor use, using less fertilizer and stopping diesel thieves who have stolen 12,971 gallons of fuel from California farms this year, according to state law enforcement.

"Without us ... there's nothing to pick, to haul, to process, to sell. There's nothing to eat," Nilmeier said. "If we don't make it, no one does."