Farm Fuel Cost Calculator
Calculate seasonal bulk farm fuel budgets, off-road dyed diesel, bulk tank deliveries, propane grain drying, and total farm energy expenditures.
Farm Acres, Diesel Usage & Grain Drying Propane
Farm Bulk Fuel & Propane Formula
Total Fuel Cost = (Field Acres × Gallons Per Acre × Diesel Price) + (Harvest Bushels × Gallons Propane Per Bushel × Propane Price) + Bulk Tank Rental- Field Diesel Consumption: Modern row-crop farming typically consumes 4.5 to 7.5 gallons of off-road diesel per acre across all tillage, planting, spraying, and harvesting passes.
- Grain Drying Propane: Removing 5 points of moisture (e.g., from 20% down to 15%) in continuous flow grain dryers requires roughly 0.09 to 0.12 gallons of LP propane per bushel.
- Bulk Storage: On-farm 1,000-gal to 10,000-gal skid tanks allow wholesale transport load delivery discounts.
Step-by-Step Worked Example
Calculation Steps:
- Calculate diesel volume: 800 acres × 6.2 gal = 4,960 gallons
- Calculate diesel fuel cost: 4,960 gal × $3.65 = $18,104.00
- Calculate drying propane volume: 70,000 bu × 0.10 gal = 7,000 gallons
- Calculate propane cost: 7,000 gal × $1.95 = $13,650.00
- Calculate total seasonal fuel spend: $18,104.00 + $13,650.00 = $31,754.00
- Calculate blended fuel cost per acre: $31,754.00 / 800 acres = $39.69 / acre
How to Use This Calculator
- 1Enter total farm cultivated acreage.
- 2Input estimated average diesel gallons consumed per acre across all seasonal field operations.
- 3Enter current bulk wholesale off-road diesel price per gallon.
- 4Optionally include grain drying LP propane gallons per bushel and propane price.
- 5Review total bulk gallon requirements and whole-farm fuel budget.
Assumptions & Limitations
- Assumes bulk farm gate tank deliveries of 500+ gallons per drop.
- Diesel fuel is tax-exempt off-road red dyed diesel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many gallons of diesel fuel does it take to farm an acre of corn?
Most Midwest corn operations consume between 5.5 and 8.0 gallons of diesel per acre from spring field prep to fall grain hauling (tillage: 1.5–2.5 gal, planting: 0.6–0.9 gal, spraying: 0.3 gal, combine harvest: 1.8–2.5 gal, grain cart & trucking: 1.0–1.5 gal).
How much propane is required to dry corn?
On average, removing 1 point of moisture from 1 bushel of shelled corn requires 0.018 to 0.022 gallons of propane. Removing 5 percentage points of moisture (from 20% to 15%) consumes roughly 0.10 gallons of propane per bushel.
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