The farmers duped by Trump’s promise to Make America White Again may take a double whammy on diesel prices. They get hit up front when they fill up their tractors and trucks to bring in this year’s harvest. They may get another whack at the elevator when their grain shippers pay less for their crops to offset railroad fuel surcharges:
Railroad fuel surcharges have more than doubled in the past year as diesel prices have reached over $6 a gallon. Railroads carry about 1.6 million carloads of grain each year, according to the Association of American Railroads. That makes up 24 percent of domestic grain movements.
It’s not uncommon for railroads to add fees due to changing fuel costs. However, when these surcharges happen, the cost often trickles down to farmers in the shape of lower crop prices.
…For now, current fuel surcharges may take some time to affect prices. Todd Davis, Indiana Farm Bureau chief economist, said he hasn’t seen crop bids change significantly from typical harvest patterns. But then again, he said, harvest has just begun.
“So the question will be, as farmers harvest and that grain enters the marketing channels, and we have transportation costs paying higher fuel expense: What is that going to do to bids?” Davis said [Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval, “Railroads Are Charging More to Ship Grain. U.S. Farmers May Have to Pick Up the Tab,” Harvest Public Media via Minnesota Public Radio, 2026.09.29].
Governor Larry Rhoden is trying to ease fuel costs for farmers by allowing them to exceed normal road weight limits and thus haul their harvest to the elevator in fewer trips. But the Energy Information Administration just raised its projected per-gallon price for diesel in 2027 by 33 cents and says U.S diesel supplies will likely remain below 2025 levels, so Rhoden’s relief plan just means we’ll wear out our roads faster and have to raise more fuel taxes to keep up.
Hey, farmers, wouldn’t it be easier and faster to lower your costs by calling your Congresspeople, urging immediate impeachment, removing Trump from office, and bringing the Iran war and Trump’s global trade shocks to an immediate end?