All these issues were in the news this past year, but a story in Ag Week yesterday gave us a glimpse of another facet of the restricted air travel. Because less jet fuel was needed for air travel, more was available to be converted to diesel fuel. As a result, the price of diesel could remain stable or even better for 2021.
The Ag Week article by Jonathan Knutson cited remarks from bioenergy and bioproducts economist David Ripplinger, who spoke (virtually) at a farm show in North Dakota.
"This is really important to agriculture. We can convert and modify jet fuel into diesel fuel, which is great (for agriculture.). They're trying to find a home for all of this fuel that used to be jet fuel. That's a really bullish thing for agriculture" as the new crop season approaches, he said.
"It's a good sign that diesel fuel (prices) will be low. This is good for North Dakota farmers who might be looking to go into those diesel markets to buy fuel, including early for spring. I don't see any reason why we would see the significant disruptions and storage issues that we saw in the spring of 2020," he said.
We've all had to make many adjustments this year. It's not a stretch to say that it has been a year that's made us seek out new ways to turn lemons into lemonade.
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You can read the full story here.
