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New analysis from the Joint Economic Committee – Minority finds that farmers across the country spent $1.4 billion more on diesel fuel alone during this year’s planting season than they did last year; a 63 percent increase for certain key crops.
This calculation only takes into account the diesel used to plant corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, and rice; it doesn’t take into account other war-related increases such as the increased costs of running diesel generators that power some greenhouses or the increases at the pump that farmers and truckers face when they drive products to market.
The Committee calculated the increase in overall diesel spending by farmers across the U.S. using diesel price data from AAA and the Energy Information Administration, estimates of average fuel use by crop and field operation from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University Ag Decision Maker research, and U.S. Department of Agriculture data on 2025 and 2026 acreage and planting windows for corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton.
The Committee finds that, nationally, higher diesel prices increased the cost of planting major crops by more than $1.4 billion in 2026 compared to the previous year – a 63 percent increase. The tables below show the top 20 states by both the overall 2025-2026 increase in diesel costs associated with the planting of corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice – five of the country’s most commonly grown crops – and the percentage increase, accounting for the difference in the scale of agricultural operations across states.
You can read the full report here.
Source: Joint Economic Committee – Minority
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