Harvest season is quickly approaching and Farmers are facing hefty diesel prices that are now over $6 a gallon. One farmer explained that this is due to "price gouging" and President Donald Trump refusing to keep his promises.
Speaking to CNN on Monday morning, farmer John Boyd Jr. said that they're in a "farm crisis."
"I'm out here picking corn, you know, $5 a bushel and paying now nearly $7 a gallon for diesel fuel," he added that California farmers are facing $10 per gallon.
"Oil is up $102 a barrel. And we see this as price gouging, you know, for farmers, this money is going somewhere," Boyd alleged, saying that all he hears from Trump is "different excuses."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is one of those Trump blamed for high fuel costs, but the war between Ukraine and Russia has been going on for years. Diesel costs didn't spike until after Trump went to war with Iran, Boyd explained. Farm equipment primarily uses diesel as fuel.
"It's his war that caused this, this war in Iran. We're not winning that war. And many farmers feel like we shouldn't be there. And it's hurt America's farmers. So it's been a rippling effect for us. You know, we have over 400 pending farm foreclosures. And the president says he made all these promises. 'He keeps his promise.' He has not kept his promise to American farmers," said Boyd.
"He's not — this isn't putting farmers first," he lambasted the president. "And all of this stuff, when we're losing our farms and he's not doing nothing about these diesel fuel prices, and it's harvest time for America's farmers."
To put it in context, Boyd said that his combine holds 140 gallons of diesel. That means it's nearly $1,000 to fill up his combine to pick corn. Even before the fuel spike, Boyd said he was "barely breaking even on in the first place. So we're operating in the red and this president continues to promises to us — he says when the tariff money comes back, it was going to go to farmers. The tariff money is not coming to farmers. It's going to large corporations."
He blasted the president, saying, "Nothing's coming to us but a lot of empty promises from this administration."
He implored politicians to talk to farmers about what is needed to make their lives better and reiterated, "This is a breaking point for farmers." They may have cast votes for three times in the past, but Democrats could make up some ground, he said.
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