Diesel Dependency In Winter Feeding

Well, exactly because of what we've talked about before, just the supply and the cost, it's a double headed monster really. Just a couple of farmers, I've got to give credit here to the Otago Daily Times who did a really interesting story in today's paper and they quoted a couple of farmers who I know, so I thought I'd quote them back to you. One is Riversdale grain farmer Chris Dillon. Now he's from a family that are... that are big big arable farmers down there and it's the arable farmers that are getting a real thrashing at the moment unlike transport operators who are also doing it tough the farmers can't pass on a fuel surcharge they're locked into pre-season contracts and they're effectively absorbing the extra costs themselves and Chris Dillon quoted some of the fuel figures that he's facing at the moment they're in harvest at the moment as soon as they get They get those crops off the ground, Heather. They're in with their big gear and they're working up that ground to get some more crops into the ground before winter or get that ground ready for planting in early spring. In his case, he's running five tractors full time. His farm consumed between 6,000 and 7,000 litres of diesel a week, a week I'm talking about. Mm. A single 320 horsepower tractor can burn through. 500 litres a day contributing to an estimated $190,000 fuel bill for his peak period. That figure has obviously surged in recent times. On top of that, they've got rapidly increasing prices or prices, should I say, for fertiliser. Up in central Otago, another farmer was quoted, a mate of mine, Stu Duncan, I call him the unofficial mayor of Wedderburn, he's on the line. It's on the local council. He's also a big, large-scale farmer, and he was putting on his local government hat and saying fuel costs could hit local government budgets really badly with essential services like road management becoming significantly more expensive. He said our entire rates increase in his neck of the woods, Maniatoaro, could be swallowed by the fuel price increase for graders. The other problem farmers face, they're using big gear these days, Heather. There's no such thing as the old tractors of the old days. They're using big gear, they're carting heavy loads and when it comes to winter feeding out, it's all done on big tractors with big baleage and silage feeders. So if they can't get diesel in the winter, those stock will go hungry, could starve. I mean that's worst case scenario but it's just a bit of a grim picture, especially for the arable farmers, really thinking of them. Nothing.