06/12/08 Rural view of fuel costs

I won't quote you the current fuel price which keeps going higher. American Farm Bureau economist Jim Sartwelle says everyone suffers but rural residents more so than city dwellers. SARTWELLE "There's of course less mass transportation out in rural areas. Folks tend to live a little bit farther from where they work. Folks are a lot more dependent on their vehicles and in a lot of rural settings we tend to see folks driving larger vehicles, more trucks, more vans." Sartwelle says rural America can't just cut out a few trips to the mall to save on gas. SARTWELLE "When its time to go to the field our folks have to be out there whereas the city cousin might be able to buy a Prius to make their 50 mile commute. There's no three quarter ton Prius pickup truck for our folks." And Sartwelle doesn't see a lot of relief for diesel users because less biodiesel is produced in the US than ethanol. SARTWELLE "When you don't have a cheaper ethanol by product to mix in with petroleum diesel you're going to see diesel continue to stay significantly higher than gasoline." He says without ethanol added to gasoline US drivers would be paying an average 15 to 20 percent more, something like $4.75 a gallon today rather than the current four-dollars plus. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott