Trucking News

Fuel Prices delay potato crop 02/11/2000 09:05:30 [Fair Use: For Education and Research Purpose Only]

LINK

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Staff Writer

Copyright 2000 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Maine potato farmers are worried that high diesel fuel prices may make it difficult to get their crop to the market.

"There's some stuff that's been delayed going out," said Michael Corey, the executive director of the Maine Potato Board in Presque Isle. "There have been some orders lost or delayed" because growers have not been able to find a trucker willing to pick up a truckload of the crop from northern Maine, he added.

Diesel prices in Maine and the rest of New England rose to around $2 a gallon this week, 50 cents or more above the national average. Truckers, as a result, have been avoiding the Northeast to concentrate on routes that take them south and west, where fuel is cheaper.

Corey said many Maine potatoes are transported by independent truckers who swing into the state after dropping off a load of goods in Boston. But many are now avoiding that unloaded trip  known as "deadheading"  because of high fuel costs.

"It's real disruptive to the market," Corey said. "If a chain store in Boston needs product, they don't need it next week; they need it in the next couple of days."

Most Maine potato growers ship their warehoused crop to markets in the Northeast between February and May, Corey said. If the crop isn't sold by May or June, potatoes grown in Florida and California are being harvested, crowding Maine potatoes out of the market, he said.

Maine growers will also soon be searching for trucks to take seed potatoes to growers in North Carolina and other states on the East Coast as the planting season begins.

"Trucks are generally tight at this time of year," Corey said.

If prices stayed high, the situation could become dire for Maine potato farmers, he said, but it looks like diesel prices are starting to come down.

Tim Dysart, the owner of Dysart's, a Bangor company that sells diesel fuel, runs truck stops and operates a trucking company, said prices fell 4 cents a gallon  from $2 to $1.96  Thursday morning, and signs are that it will continue to head down.

He said that, aside from potatoes, "things are getting moved fine" in Maine despite the high prices.

Many truck companies are adding a fuel surcharge to cover the higher diesel cost, Dysart said, and companies that need to ship goods are simply having to pay a little more while fuel prices are high. Those who don't need to ship immediately should probably wait a week or two for diesel prices to come down more, he added.

Dysart said diesel prices were $1.35 to $1.40 a gallon before the current run-up began in the last few weeks in New England, and are significantly lower outside the region.

"We look at a chart that says what the fuel price is elsewhere and New England is a third more," he said. "Once you get out to Virginia and that way, prices drop down."

He said truckers are also finding lower prices in Canada.

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

======================================

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 13, 2000

Answers

Maybe those Mainites will have to pay truckers to make the deadhead run up. Its a new cost of doing business, not a catastrophe.

-- John (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 13, 2000.

John,

I am monitoring this closely to make sure there will not be a shortage of potato chips!!!!! Because if there is--it will be TEOTWAWKI for me! Bad enough a shortage of ice-cream cones is predicted for summer...and BTW, it *is* catastrophic for my brother who owns a soft ice cream business, among other related businesses. Try telling the little kids with their wide eyes running up to the ice cream stand that there are no cones this year. Oh my....

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 13, 2000.

Does anyone know the profit margin on potatoes? Rather than sell at a loss because of extra deadheading costs, I would not sell. How much do potato farmers make? Farmers of other crops often make very little on crops. Are potato prices regulated like milk prices?

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), February 13, 2000.

I don't know the margin on potatoes, or the cost to drive an empty truck from Boston to Maine, or the value of a truck load of potatoes. But the extra cost is less than the cost of losing the whole crop because it was delivered late.

-- John (LITTMANNJ@AOL.COM), February 13, 2000.

Hello John-- As a so called "hobby farmer" with 42 ewes and 1 ram, it is my understanding that crop farmers sometimes must take an overall loss for their crop because of low prices. It may not be feasible for the Maine farmers to pay deadhead fees. Farmers sometimes must go into debt to buy next years seed with the expectation of making a profit the next year. Sometimes it works, sometimes there is more debt, sometimes the farms are sold. Consumers are outraged when dairy farmers talk of dumping milk rather than selling it below what it costs to produce it. But usually consumers have very little idea the effort it takes to produce any kind of food and the profit made on the product. I can talk about sheep and lambs and wool but have no idea about potatoes. I was hoping someone here did.

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), February 13, 2000.