CABOT, Vt. (WCAX) – Vermont truck drivers are now paying $6.45 for a gallon of diesel fuel. That’s $2.46 more than they paid a year ago.
Nearly seven months of the war with Iran has inflated oil costs across the country. Greg Burtt of Burtt’s Apple Orchard in Cabot says it means he has to eat the cost of diesel so his customers don’t.
Diesel fuel is the main cost of Burtt’s day-to-day operations. The extra costs include fueling mowers and tractors for harvesting and hauling fruit, operating machines to pick up fallen apples and operating evaporators for maple syrup.
“I’ve been trying to keep my prices and everything at my farmstand is identical to last year. I don’t want to see anybody else have to eat it so I find a price where people can still come. If I just went to $3 a pound on my apples I will lose sales so you have to find that middle ground where people are saying I can afford that and want to bring a family out to pick apples,” Burtt said.
Higher diesel prices are not just affecting the bottom line for Burtt; they’re making every decision about his sales more important. The price of fuel is leading him to reconsider possibilities of expansion for the maple sugaring side of his business.
Burtt says the increased cost of equipment needed for maple sugaring has forced him to reassess whether to increase maple syrup production. He is choosing to absorb the higher operating costs and take money out of his own pocket rather than pass them on to customers.
“I think Vermonters look out for each other every day. I still have to make a sale so it’s a two-way street, I’m looking out for my neighbors,” Burtt said.
Burtt believes agriculture is the backbone of the Green Mountain State and if something isn’t done to offset these costs, it could lead to the collapse of the industry, something he doesn’t want to see.
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