The price of diesel fuel has increased substantially during the past year with no indication that fuel prices will decline in the near future. This has resulted in increased machinery costs for farmers. The question arises as to how much machinery costs per acre have increased due to the higher fuel costs. This is especially important to those farmers involved in custom farming arrangements. The increase in machinery costs per acre due to the higher fuel prices depends on a number of factors, including the size of equipment, efficiency and type of machinery operation. Fuel costs per acre are estimated for selected machinery operations typically performed in the fall given different prices per gallon for diesel fuel.
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