A farmer in western Iowa is concerned isolated fuel shortages could become widespread as fall fieldwork continues.
Kelly Garrett is a crop and livestock producer who owns two gas stations near Denison and says there seem to be more supply shocks from the Iran war than during the pandemic.
“It seems tighter now, prices seem higher. We have one supplier that the gas station in Dow City’s been with since the 1960’s and they do a great job, but there’s been a few times that the pipeline in Omaha, they’ve been empty.”
He tells Brownfield there are gasoline and diesel shortages in multiple areas.
“We’ve not run out yet. I did hear that there were some convenience stores in Denison that were out of gas (and) people were stopping on the interstates to get fuel and there’s bags over the gas handles and things like that.”
Garrett says this would be a terrible time for farmers to lose access to fuel.
“The idea that you cannot get enough diesel to haul the corn or run the combine or tractor, I mean holy cow. It’s a little frightening to be quite honest.”
He says he’s considering additional on-farm fuel capacity to help mitigate the risk of future shortages.
