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Farmers and truckers fear record-breaking diesel prices could weaken supply chain


Love's gas station in Jasper, AL (Diamond Nunnally, WBMA)
Love's gas station in Jasper, AL (Diamond Nunnally, WBMA)
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Diesel prices are now at an all time high. According to AAA, the cost to fill up is now $5.32. Even if you don't use diesel in your vehicle, the high prices are impacting your wallet.

Gassing up big rigs comes at a cost. Record-breaking diesel prices have Trucker Ross Hess concerned for small trucking companies.

"My opinion, I see small companies shutting their doors down. I see these owner operators selling their trucks just to keep their homes," Hess said.

Diesel goes beyond those thirsty semi-trucks. Alabama farmers are having to dig deeper to pay these prices too. Farmer Dorman Grace is now paying almost two times more than he did before the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

"Take this combine behind us. The fuel tank on that combine is 250 gallons, so if you do the math, let's just round off to five dollars, $1,250 dollars to fill it up," said Grace Farming Company LLC. Owner Dorman Grace.

Just about every piece of machinery on Grace's farm runs on diesel.

"This increase in prices on everything and getting parts, just different aspects we're having to battle with right now, just makes it more difficult to be farming," grace said.

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And with what it costs to even ship the food, Dorman has had to cut costs. He limits travel where he can and even downsized his staff.

"Our wheat is close to harvest and we want to take care of the land. If we have profits, we can take care of that," Grace said. "That's what folks need to understand is when they go to the grocery store, it's there but you know with the way this is going, there's going to be supply chain issues with food I believe."

Both Grace and Hess fear that loss of farmers and trucking companies could weaken the supply chain even more.

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