High diesel prices strain Australian farmers and truckers during harvest season

Spring is one of the most fuel-intensive seasons for businesses in rural Australia.

Farmers work around the clock to harvest their crops as trucks transport grain and food to silos and markets across the country.

Trucking business owner Dan Russo said the return of high diesel prices is "crippling the trucking industry".

Grain growers paid more for fuel and fertiliser during sowing earlier this year, and now they are facing an expensive harvest.

Victorian Farmers Federation President Ryan Milgate said it would "really, really bite on the bottom line".

Mr Russo runs a fleet of 13 semi-trailers and road trains from his base in Melbourne.

The costs are adding up.

"You've got 10 trucks taking 1,000 litres minimum each day," Mr Russo said.

"Not to mention the extra repair bills due to the roads, extra running costs, registration, tolls."

Mr Russo said higher fuel prices come out of his pocket.

"Every day I'm getting less and less optimistic … it's very deflating," he said.

"[In June] when fuel hit $3.20, our fuel bill was just under $400k.

"July, our fuel bill dipped down … August, it's gone back up to $275k."

Mr Russo warned the extra costs would eventually flow on to consumers if help was not provided.

"The more you hit the transport industry, the higher your consumer prices are going to be," he said.

"No-one wants to see $10 bottles of milk at the supermarket," he said.

Diesel the 'only option'

The grain harvest has already begun in central Queensland, with the rest of the country to follow in coming weeks.

Mr Milgate said farmers were frustrated with the high diesel price, after an expensive sowing season.

"We sort of can't get a break here," Mr Milgate said.

"We're looking at double the price of diesel that we were paying 12 months ago."

Crops in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia are on track to produce bumper yields.

Mr Milgate said "diesel is the only option" to get the harvest completed.

Simon Barbary farms at Woomelang in Victoria's Mallee and while he is concerned about fuel prices, he is more worried about supply.

"We've got to have it so unfortunately we're just a price taker. You can't say no as much as you want to," Mr Barbary said.

"If more ships get taken out, we'll be filling everything we have no matter the price."

Mr Barbary requires about 15,000Lof diesel to get through harvest, a volume that his on-farm storage has the capacity to hold.

"I'll have to look at seriously building up my [fuel] supply for harvest now but that depends on price, I guess," he said.

"Low grain prices and high input prices, that's what keeps me up at night."

Mr Barbary said the good season was one of the only things that has gone right this year.

Bumper crops also come at the cost of the extra diesel it takes to harvest them.

"The machinery is working harder, more truck trips to the silo, so yeah we will probably be using 10-20 per cent more fuel," Mr Barbary said.

Fuel flowing for now

Commodity market analyst Andrew Whitelaw said fuel continues to be shipped to Australia, so supply was not an issue at this stage.

"The numbers are still showing pretty strong flows coming into the country," he said.

"We're probably about 5 per cent down year on year."

But Mr Whitelaw said the fuel situation is becoming "precarious" as the US-Iran conflict continued.

"The reality is that stockpiles around the world are starting to get a little bit more constrained."