TEXAS \u2014 The farming equipment that litters Michael Moon\u2019s land, which sits about an hour northeast of Austin in Holland, has been acquired through generations of family farming.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother’s mother had a dairy in the ’50s over in a town close to here,” Moon said. “My dad’s family, they were sharecroppers.”<\/p>\n
Moon diversified the family business by selling various crops and running a cow-calf operation.<\/p>\n
With the war against Iran creating conflict over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade passageway, farmers are dealing with increased costs of fertilizer and fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to really love what you’re doing to go through the hard times we do. Especially now with the fertilizer and fuel prices the way they are,\u201d said Moon.<\/p>\n
Since the war started, the cost of fertilizer\u00a0increased by nearly 30%<\/a>,\u00a0and the cost of diesel fuel rose\u00a0nearly 50%<\/a>. Nearly every vehicle Moon owns uses diesel.<\/p>\n One of Moon\u2019s trucks has two fuel tanks that hold 150 gallons each. The cost of diesel has increased from $3.30 to $6 a gallon, making a full tank of gas cost $1,800. When this truck has to take multiple trips to haul fertilizer, the cost of doing business can add up quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to to agriculture, we’re basically price takers,” said Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. “We don’t set our price for our commodities.”<\/p>\n To try and ease the cost of living for farmers, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller asked Gov. Greg Abbott to suspend the state\u2019s motor fuels tax. Miller said, \u201cOur producers are entering critical growing seasons, and families are struggling to make ends meet. Texans don\u2019t need excuses. They need relief.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u00a0don’t know that it will necessarily force farmers to plant less, but it could surely force them to use less fertilizer,\u201d said Boening.<\/p>\n Using less fertilizer could reduce the costs for farmers but could also cause a smaller and less nutritious yield. Moon thinks the prices of fertilizer and gas caused by the war have reached an unfair level.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are price gouging now because they knew we were fixing to put fertilizer out. They had everything we needed to go to work here before the war ever started. So then the war comes on. Well, there’s going to be fuel shortages and everything. So they automatically start bringing the price up,\u201d said Moon.<\/p>\n