FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Farmers in Northern Colorado face two major challenges this year: severe drought and rising diesel costs.
For hay farmers, the combination is making it more expensive to grow, transport, and sell their products.
Nate Bowers, a Northern Colorado hay farmer, said this has been one of the most difficult years of his career.
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“I mean, we've been having, like, a year I hope to never have to repeat in my career,” Bowers said. “The drought is awful.”
The drought has significantly reduced Bowers’ hay production. He said some fields produced little to no hay despite the work and resources put into them.
“We've had whole fields that we've irrigated and done everything that we would normally do, fertilized it, and ended up with like no hay to show for it,” Bowers said.
That shortage has forced Bowers to buy hay from outside Colorado.
He said hay from Kansas may be relatively inexpensive when he buys it, but transporting it to Northern Colorado can more than double the cost.
“We're still buying hay out of Kansas cheap, but by the time we truck it here, it more than doubles in price,” Bowers said.
Diesel is a major part of that equation.
Bowers said his operation relies on diesel-powered equipment every day.
“Our business burns diesel every day, every single day,” Bowers said. “We have probably at least 12 different diesel engines.”
Bowers is not alone.
Kellen Riedlinger, another Northern Colorado farmer, said his diesel costs have also increased significantly.
“I would guess that we're easily double, if not two and a half times, what it's been in the past,” Riedlinger said.
But passing those higher costs on to customers is difficult.
Riedlinger said he has already lost some customers because of rising hay prices.
“We did lose a few customers that just said it was too much for them,” Riedlinger said. “Not a huge percent, maybe 10% or less.”
For farmers, the challenge is finding a way to absorb higher costs without pushing prices beyond what their customers can afford.
“My hope is that it would just calm down and that it not be such huge swings,” Bowers said. “We can position ourselves and our customers can position themselves if there's stability and predictability.”
For now, farmers are watching the drought, hay supply, and fuel prices closely as they try to get through the year.
