By Nathan Brooks

California farmers pay $8.36 a gallon for diesel — the highest in the nation and more than $2 above the U.S. average, according to AAA. The state Farm Bureau wants to bring that price down by roughly 73 cents per gallon. Governor Gavin Newsom is unmoved.

The California Farm Bureau has asked Newsom and state lawmakers to follow President Donald Trump's lead and temporarily allow red-dyed diesel on public roads, the same fuel farmers already burn in their tractors. Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the IRS to stop penalizing on-road use of dyed diesel through the end of the year.

In California, dyed diesel remains prohibited for vehicles on public roads, including interstates. CAFB representatives have met with two legislative committees and sent a letter to Newsom requesting the state suspend its 48-cent diesel excise tax and permit the dyed fuel on roadways.

What does the federal order actually change?

Red-dyed diesel is chemically identical to standard diesel except for color. It normally dodges federal highway fuel taxes because it powers off-road equipment — farm tractors, construction machinery.

Using it on roadways can trigger road-diesel taxes and penalties: a 24.4-cent federal excise tax plus state levies. Trump's order would suspend those penalties through year-end and, if Treasury finds the authority, delay tax collection.

"It's exactly the same kind of diesel but it's just dyed red," Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen told Agri-Pulse.

CAFB's math works out to about 73 cents per gallon in savings — meaningful when California's pump price already towers above neighboring Oregon and Washington. Texas drivers pay $5.70, the lowest in the country.

Why is Newsom resisting?

Anthony Martinez, Newsom's deputy press secretary, derided the order as "more distraction and desperation" at a time when U.S. households have paid nearly $1,000 in extra fuel costs.

"This order doesn't add a single gallon to the diesel supply or address the supply constraints driving Trump's elevated fuel prices," Martinez told Agri-Pulse. "Instead, it asks Americans to trust a Trump administration that hasn't kept its promises to lower costs and hope the deferred tax bill won't come due later."

Tamma Adamek, a spokesperson for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, told Agri-Pulse the agency is examining Trump's order and weighing its feasibility.

State officials also worry that opening red-dyed diesel to non-farm drivers could leave growers competing with the public for harvest fuel.

What's driving California's record pump prices?

Several factors stack on top of each other:

• A 48-cent state diesel excise tax
• Direct state taxes of 5 cents per gallon
• State and local sales tax rate of 13%
• A low-carbon fuel standard requiring a unique blend
• Closure of refineries in Los Angeles and Benicia, removing about 20% of in-state gasoline refining capacity
• The continuing Iran conflict, which UC economists cite as the largest single driver

CAFB notes diesel prices have climbed 55% since the Iran conflict began.

What does this change for Central Valley growers?

Jacobsen, who grows almonds and raisin grapes near Fresno, won't know the full hit on his own books until harvesting and transportation bills come due. But the squeeze is already showing up in the field.

"It affects producers' bottom lines," he said. "It's increasing both the cost of running the equipment on the farm as well as the surcharges on trucking and transportation passed on to the farmers."

Some growers have responded by deferring maintenance or skipping equipment runs, the Fresno County Farm Bureau reports.

Illinois, Georgia and Tennessee are the latest states to loosen penalties and allow red-dyed diesel on roads for agricultural hauling and similar farm uses. CAFB is conducting a grower survey to feed data to state policymakers. Whether California joins that list hinges on whether CDTFA's review opens a path before harvest invoices land this fall.