Farmers Pay Price As Fuel Costs Soar

Soaring Fuel Costs Are Putting Some Farmers In Jeopardy

(CBS)  Farming is the foundation of Sylvania, Ga. That's where CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and the Eye on the Road crew met crop duster Robbie McMillan, who's been sweeping over the fields for nearly 30 years.

A few years ago, McMillan was paying $1.60 a gallon for aviation fuel. Now, it's almost $5. He doesn't want to, but he has to pass on the extra cost.

"I can only absorb so much," he says.

That means farmers like Ben Boyd end up paying more, too. And that's just the beginning.

Every single day, Boyd spends more than $1,300 just fueling up his five tractors. That's twice what he was paying just two years ago.

"We try to reduce the trips across the field," Boyd says, "because if I don't make a trip, I don't have to pay for the diesel."

But there's no cutting corners when it comes to fertilizer. Its key ingredient? Natural gas. "Our fertilizer costs are up 48 percent in the last three years," says Boyd. "That's huge for us."

That's an added cost of $54,000 a year for Boyd … and down the street, his neighbor, Lindy Shepard, isn't doing much better.

"Hindsight is 20-20," says Shepard. "But if I had to do it all over, I probably wouldn't have farmed this year and probably wouldn't have farmed this year."

Boyd is just hoping to make it through this year.

"Without a good year," he says, "I could easily be out of business next year."

Skyrocketing fuel prices threaten to change the landscape of America. Farmers say that could change everything.

"I think it's a matter of national security as much as anything," says Boyd. "If you like being dependent on foreign oil, you're gonna love being dependent on foreign food."

Rising gas prices mean corn that used to cost about $36 an acre to farm, now costs $64. Boyd has 4,000 acres. That's a lot of ground to cover and it adds up quickly.