TEXAS — Higher diesel prices are driving up costs at the grocery store. AAA numbers show diesel costs hit a record high in June 2022 at $5.326 a gallon. Now it’s around $4 a gallon in Texas.

But even though the cost of diesel has leveled out, it's still high, and energy experts expect the prices could go up again this year.

The Texas Farm Bureau reports the increase of diesel prices in recent years is taking a toll on farmers and ranchers like Larry and Pam Leschber. The husband and wife team run a thousand-acre corn and wheat farm in Hutto. Their livelihood runs on diesel.

Larry drives around 300 miles three times a week to distribute corn in a semi-truck. They have nearly one dozen vehicles on their property and most are run by diesel.

“Everything on our farm is a diesel engine except for her car,” Larry said.

Fuel costs are the third biggest expense for their Central Texas farm. The Leschbers pay about $4 a gallon for the “clear diesel” for his trucks. Red diesel for farm equipment is about $3 per gallon, with a tax break.

“We can burn a lot of diesel in a day’s, week’s worth time,” he said.  

While the semi-trucks get about six miles to the gallon, Larry says the tractor burns about 28 gallons per hour.

“Ten-hour day you burn 280 gallons times three dollars, doesn’t take long to add up,” he said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration says while prices have leveled, there won’t be much relief this year either. The Texas Farm Bureau predicts diesel will go up to $4.29 in 2023. In the end, that plays a role in driving up food costs.

“It goes down to the grocery store prices and that’s where the hardship is hitting so many people too,” Pam said.

Texas has the fourth lowest cost of diesel in the U.S. and is well below the national average of $4.627. Only Kansas, Wisconsin and Oklahoma have lower prices.

However, the state’s current average diesel prices are much higher than the average costs in the last decade.

(Courtesy: U.S. Energy Information Administration)

“Anybody that’s gone to the filling station knows, in the last year and a half or two years, how much change there’s been,” Larry said.

With commodity prices for his crops increasing, the Leschbers say they haven’t taken as much of a hit. That’s not the case for everyone.

“Boys with bigger farms with high labor, it hurts them a whole lot easier than it hurts us,” Larry said.

If diesel prices do rise, as predicted, these two farmers will have an even bigger problem fueling their tanks come May when their wheat crops are ready to harvest.