As diesel prices top $5 a gallon again, Georgia farmers brace for higher delivery costs

It's been more than a month since Georgia's gas tax suspension expired, and while commuters have felt the impact at the pump, some farmers say they're feeling it in a different way.

At Sunnybrook Stables in Cobb County, rising diesel prices do not show up at the gas pump. Instead, they show up in the cost of keeping its horses fed, according to director Grania Holman.

"Most people think of fuel prices, or the diesel fuel prices, as directly in the car or the vehicles at the pump," Holman told CBS News Atlanta. "For us, it's the indirect impact that we have with our providers, the farmers, and the commercial producers that bring in our hay."

For Holman, the bigger price tag means higher delivery fees on everything from hay to grain.

"When they bring in trucks here, they're massive diesel trucks that bring these 1,000-pound hay bales on the back, and usually we'll have 10 to 12 to 20 delivered at a time," said Holman. "That's an enormous fuel cost for them, so we have to usually sustain the extra cost of the fuel by the delivery charges, which can be anywhere between $50 to $100 to $150."

To cut costs, Holman told us she is making more pickups herself and, to balance the increased price tag, has been relying on donations from her nonprofit organization and increased costs of Sunnybrook's summer camps.

For other farmers we spoke to, there is no way around the price hike.

Dale Kreitzer owns a farm in Iowa and is traveling to Atlanta to visit his children.

He told us he is experiencing direct impacts because the equipment he uses requires diesel fuel.

"Tractors, combines, diesel pickups if you have them," said Kreitzer. "I've got a semi to haul grain to town or haul to the elevator, so it definitely makes a difference."

According to AAA, the statewide average has jumped to roughly $3.77 per gallon, an increase of about 20 cents in a single week.

AAA's latest data shows Atlanta motorists are paying $5.02 for diesel.