May 2, 2006
Eye On The Road, Day Two
Sharyn Alfonsi Hits The Road To Chart Pain At The Pump
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Play CBS Video Video Eye On The Road: On To Georgia Sharyn Alfonsi's next destination on CBS News' "Eye On The Road" tour is Sylvania, Ga., where the correspondent will see how soaring gas prices are affecting farmers in the area.
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Video 'Eye On The Road': Day 1 Only On The Web: CBS News has kicked off the weeklong series "Eye On The Road." Sharyn Alfonsi and her crew will be driving cross-country to see how higher gasoline prices are changing America.
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Video President Bush's Gas Plan CBS News RAW: In a speech at the Renewable Fuels Association Summit in Washington, President Bush spoke out against gas price gouging and called for energy companies to make sacrifices.
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CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi (CBS)
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From left to right, Louise Watkins, Cas Zajdel, Laura Schulkins, Kathy Miller and Di Coy are Meals on Wheels volunteers in Fort Myers, Fla. (CBS/Mark LaGanga)
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Interactive Gas Prices State-by-state averages, tips to improve mileage and a look at what fuels prices at the pump.
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Interactive CBS Gas Price Patrol Follow CBS News' Cross-Country Gas Price Patrol with our interactive map, photo essays, road logs and video archive.
On The Road To Sylvania, Ga.
It's day two of our road trip and we spent the night outside of Brunswick, Ga. Of course, we could be anywhere. This highway exit looks like any other exit anywhere McDonald's to the right, Burger King to the left, gas stations and an assortment of less than exciting/glamorous/clean motels dotted in between.
The only hint that we're in the South comes at the Huddle House down the road this morning, where the waitress did not flinch when I ordered "sweet tea" for breakfast.
Needless to say, we're looking forward to getting off the highway and into the country. We'll be spending the day in Sylvania, Ga., talking with some farmers who are hurting because of the high price of natural gas.
Ben Boyd farms 4,000 acres of peanuts, cotton, and corn with his brother and father near Sylvania. He's seen the price of fertilizer skyrocket over the last few years (natural gas is the key ingredient). It costs him an additional $54,000 a year just for fertilizer.
He has about five tractors running a day, each burning 100 gallons of diesel (at $2.45 a gallon) a day. That's an extra $1,300 in fuel alone. He told us, "I can't take a whole lot more of that." Boyd says that, at this point I'm worried about having enough operating capital to put fuel in the tractor and put out the fertilizer" to get his crop in and more important, to get his crop out.
Smaller farms are struggling, too. Lindy Sheppard farms some 2,000 acres near Sylvania. He says gas prices have pushed him to his tipping point. "Hindsight is 20/20, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have farmed last year and probably wouldn't have farmed this year. I really should have gotten out of it a couple years ago."
If he can't negotiate his way through this year, he might get out of farming all together. He could always sell his land and we'll have another patch of the world that looks like a nondescript highway exit McDonalds to the right, Burger King to the left.
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