Journal-News.com

In 2007, Debbie Parrella set a price of $5 a bushel for corn at West Side Feed in Middletown. Today, the cost is nearly $9.

"Raising gas prices hasn't just affected grain, it affects fertilizer, soils, you name it," said Parrella, who owns the store at 5450 Trenton Franklin Road along with her husband, Ted.

A 50-pound bag of copper sulfate, which is used in horse feed and to control algae in ponds, sold for $55 last year. Today, it costs $125.

"We're struggling; we hate to raise prices but can't give stuff away," she said.

She is not alone.

Gas prices are so high that Kathleen Dittman of Ross Twp. said she struggles just to fill up her tractor.

"Last year, it would cost me about $375, and now it costs up to $600," Dittman said.

While Dittman has raised her prices to offset higher costs, her business has remained about the same. She and her husband, Gary, sell their produce to local businesses and at the Hamilton Farmers Market.

"We sell a lot of stuff that you can't find in stores, like the peas you shell yourself," she said. "I think that helps us a lot."

Every aspect of the farm business is affected by increasing fuel costs, said Steve Bartels, Butler County Extension Office educator in agriculture and natural resources of The Ohio State University Extension.

"There's no way to make a profit raising beef because of the cost of feed ... livestock producers are in jeopardy right now," Bartels said.

Crop farmers also struggle with increased grain and fertilizer prices, he said.

"Nothing is stable in agriculture, everything is doom and gloom," Parrella said. "I don't see an end in sight."