Interested to hear what farmers are paying for their fuel arround the world this winter. Just filled farm diesel tanks and paid the equivalent of 46.25p/l. Gas (petrol) is about 58p/l at the pumps, I believe it's cheaper in the States, but someone else can probably confirm that. Expect crude to rise if drilling arround here is anything to go by, over 200 wells to go in at $1M each!

Today p/litre at Xrate €1.10/£1. Agricultural diesel 68.5p. Road diesel 100.9p. Unleaded "95" petrol 122.7p. "98" 129p.

Probably the only thing more expensive in Portugal than the UK - although PW can give us a guide on Jura because I saw it for the first time here today. 10yo at almost exactly £32, with two tasting glasses thrown in. My boy brought me a 15yo Dalmore last week and I think that would have cost a lot more.

 Farm diesel $2.30 per gallon, blended 30% #1 and 70%#2, gasoline $2.61 per gallon.

c,mon Kansas work it out in pence per litre, and l'll have a go at working out what it costs in Au.

Let me try to work this out for Kansasfarmer..

1 US gallon is 3.7854 liters

Us dollar is worth 68.949p

               Farm Diesel       Petrol

US             37.36p            47.53p

Canada      46.25p            58.0p

Portugal     68.5p              129.0p

 Thanks Caveo, I logged on with every intention of answering Jim, but see you have done it for me...now how about Australian prices????????????

 OK

AU$ - 57p

Pump price diesel - $1. 20      68p

pump price petrol - $1. 18       67p

Farmers ( primary producers) pay this price , but then claim back  all goverment fuel tax  38cents a litre and GST (vat) %10. Petrol and deisel can be claimed . If used on road 16cents a litre for road tax is added for heavy trucks.

So farm diesel is 63 cents or 36p a litre.

regards Jim

 

old mcdonald:

although PW can give us a guide on Jura because I saw it for the first time here today. 10yo at almost exactly £32, with two tasting glasses thrown in. My boy brought me a 15yo Dalmore last week and I think that would have cost a lot more.

Your comment prompted me to look in the old oak settle and guess what I found?  Bottles of

Bells blended, Famous Grouse blend. Jura 10 yr old. Abelour 10 yr. Glenfiddich 10 yr, The Glenlivet 10 yr. Macallan 25 yr and Old Pulteney 12 yr.

From memory the Abelour, Glenlivet and Jura were bought from Somerfield on a £10 off offer at about £16 to £17. That being the price at which I will be tempted. The Old Pulteney and Macallans were gifts and blends would be around £12 I guess.

I do however buy when the good offers are on, and would not have the stock I do were the normal prices for a 10 year old malt of £26 to £30, to be my only option.

I await with some interest however, the first distillations from the wind turbine powered Still, now being erected by Hhs. I shall purchase a bottle of his whisky even at £30.

 

PW, Too heavily weighted to Speysides. Spend your ESL money on a different area for comparison. Whisky's, like wine, taste different from different areas. You will probably not find Dalmore in your neck of the woods, but you will find Glenmorangie, Balblair also close by, but to mind not so good, and Glen Ord quite close too, but again behind Dalmore and 'Morangie.

Now how about answering the original question? Nobody else from the UK is, and this is an English site. I am way out in front so far - and the minimum monthly wage was increased to €475 (£432) on 1st January. How about a level playing field for farmers across the EU?

 

Bonjour,

Red diesel €0.48 litre = 42.23p before VAT

Derv at pump €1.06 litre = 92.27p inc VAT

Minimum wage (35hr week) €1337.70 per month ...... (plus social charges for employer)... beat that!

Needless to say we all mecanise to avoid employing folk.

Whisky said to be cheap, red wine available at all prices!

Bon courage,

JC.

 

old mcdonald:

You will probably not find Dalmore in your neck of the woods, but you will find Glenmorangie, Balblair also close by, but to mind not so good, and Glen Ord

I have drunk Dalmore and Glenmorngie regularly along with Balwhinnie but have not tried Balblair or Glen Ord. In fact the only whisky I do not enjoy is Teachers.

I think you mean Dalwhinnie. Balwhinnie would be interesting though 50/50 Balblair and Dalwhinnie. Have to agree with the Teachers bit, although I put Bell's in the same class. Personal taste. I have yet to find an Italian wine I like, or a German red. I am not saying that they do not make good ones, just not one to my taste. Conversely I have not had a Spanish wine that I do not like - and I have had many El Cheapos.

You still have not answered the original question!!!!!

Flash - Minimum wage in AU comes out at 1300 pounds a month plus conpulsary pension contributions from the employer. So you are not to far ahead. Cheapest 10 year old Jura l could find was 36 quid.

Romania prices for diesel are about Euro 0.95 per litre.

Occassionally the government has given about Euro 0.20 per litre subsidy. This of course does not include the cost of collecting it from the local petrol station because there is no farm deliveries, a nightmare that usually involves 200 litre drums and a pick-up, which of course requires the local police to turn a blind eye. Ideally you need to be close enough to drive the tractor there to fill up, although that assumes that the authorities do not upgrade the road and ban tractor usage. Our most amusing incidence was when given vouchers by the government to help with 2008 autumn re-seeding after a summer drought - we got the same number of vouchers for 400 hectares as someone with four - with a bit of local help we managed to get three vouchers to buy 13,000 litres. Of course the garage could only give us a receipt for one voucher on one day, net result we had three days to take it all through the pumps and take it home. Total chaos but at least it saved a bureaucrat somewhere a little paperwork.

The subsidy is now history as after 01/01/2010 the government cannot give direct subsidies for diesel. As far as I am aware it is not thinking of reducing the tax element for farmers.

White diesel £1.17 per litre

Tractor diesel £0. 65

Petrol  £ 1.16 per litre

Kerosene 28 second heating oil £0.426 per litre

UK minimum wage £5.80 per hour

 

old mcdonald:

I think you mean Dalwhinnie.

Yes I did

old mcdonald:

I have yet to find an Italian wine I like

I do enjoy Chianti Classico. However, I could not tell you which vineyard. My tastes tend to be more Italianate that Spanish but I do enjoy food of all kinds of cooking but particularly Mediterranean.

old mcdonald:

You still have not answered the original question!!!!!

I think I have on an adjoining posting. If not please tell me what you want me to find out for you.

PW, I see your post on prices above. I think you and I might might well be on a very similar wavelength when it comes to food and drink. I do not want to hi-jack the original theme of the thread, but dinner every night is the highlight of my day. It is the time my wife and I talk to each other, although we both concentrate on the meal rather than each other. I am not making a good job of explaining this. We have been married nearly 40 years and we get along OK, but we do not "worship" each other. I hope you know what I mean - and I have not eaten yet. I know it is something with turkey and ham so that means a white for starters, but I have a Moscatel de Setubal for the paté to follow and a cheapish ruby port for the remnants of the whole Stilton my boy brought out a couple of weeks ago. Vintages are expensive even here.

 

kansasfarmer:

I logged on with every intention of answering

I know it is off the thread, but this thread is throwing up cost comparisons and I find most interesting, (it is also interesting that no one has put up figures for English farms - farmers here don't like anyone to know how cheap red diesel is compared to pump prices for the other 99.5% of society)

I wondered if you could inform me about insurance costs for health in US of A.

I know it is a complicated and controversial area. When I was in Iowa in 2004, it came out in discussion that the average (yes I know about averages, but it is a start) family farm with 3 generations insuring health was coming out at $1,200 per month (I guessed that this was for 6 adults and further enquire sustained this figure). So the farm has to find $15,000pa out of profits for health. I wondered what the situation is now?

I further realize that if you are in employment that this figure is paid for by your employer, which makes the situation of the self-employed farmer, plumber or whatever different and likewise the unemployed or food welfare folk again different. I know also that if you have not got insurance it does not stop emergency activity being provided to all (this is effectively cross complied by hospital absorbing costs and passing on elsewhere to those that can pay).

I don't want to make any statement about our system or yours, socialism or free market. What I would like to know is: What the average farm family pays for health insurance per month assuming 3 generations on farm and 6 people accessing benefits.

 I don't know an average.  I get my insurance from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, it is $299 per month for me only, that with a $1000 deductible (I think you use a different term in the UK).  Mrs. KF gets hers through her job, her share is $35 per month, complicated deductible but she only has to pay $35 per visit to the doctor, before the deductible is reached.  A family plan is based on the age of the oldest person on the plan, for us that would be around $800 per month.  My brother has two kids, his family plan is $750 with I believe a $2000 deductible.  Once you turn 65 you go on the government Medicare plan, and usually get co-insurance if you can afford it, last I heard my dad complaining about it it was running around $250 per month. 

Big factors affecting price of health coverage, age, deductible, lifetime limit.  Quite a few self employed people are now going to $10000 deductibles.  I have heard of lifetime limits of $250000, mine is $5 million.  

During the 8 years I served on our local school board, one of our biggest headaches was negotiating our health insurance for the teachers and other employees.  The district provided a single plan, the family plan got to be so expensive the younger employees opted out for their own.  This left the older and less healthy employees on our plan, making our premiums so much higher, costing the district more.  When I got off the board 8 years ago, the monthly family premium was about $900 per month.  

I will make a statement about our system.  If you have a good job or can afford the better insurance plans, it is great, couldn't be better.  If you are self-employed, or in a job that doesn't provide insurance, it can be a nightmare if you have health problems.  We needed reform, thanks to the arrogance of the Democrats who believed Obamas election was a mandate from God, and they could ram it down the throats of everyone who had doubts about their plan, we are not going to get much of anything now.  I think nearly 80% of the public is convinced our system needs to be reformed, but the way the Dems went about it was never going to fly.  Now that they lost the Massachusetts Senate seat, it is unlikely anything will happen.

kansasfarmer:

that with a $1000 deductible (I think you use a different term in the UK). 

Many thanks for this.

I believe this is the excess. So we would have a policy for house, car et.al. and the insurance comapny would pay out subject to the agreed excess. So I may have a car accident and the costs of repair is £1,000 with my policy having an excess of £250 which means the insurance will pay £750 and I would pay the £250.

However the deducatable you refer to maybe that the health insurance will pay out up to a limit of $1,000pa or $250,000 over a lifetime?

Off thread I know but taking my lead from others: 

At first glance there are many differences twixt the US and UK insofar as medical contributions for the individual are concerned, it should however not be too difficult if one looks at what the individual pays out.

Jacobus will give me the exact figure but I believe every employee pays something like 12% of salary for National Health Insurance which includes the national minimum pension at aged 65 for men. (age to rise soon). That equates to £2640 on a national average wage of say £22k. In addition an individual at age 30 will be paying £450 annually for a specified level of private health insurance. Prescriptions costs per year will add about another £50. Over the counter drugs will be a further £120.

In round terms, the ordinary chap in the street will be paying around £3250 health cover. At the present time he will pay that for 45 years and receive the care of the National Health Service. Some Private care if required and the basic state pension of around £4350 at age 65.

I have not checked these actual figures but think they are reasonably there, or there abouts.

 Motley, the deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before the insurance kicks in.  So with $1000 deductible, I have to pay for my first $1000 of cost out of pocket.  The lifetime limit is the amount the company will pay.  In other words, if I hit $5 million in healthcare costs before I reach 65, I am on my own.  That seems like a lot, but a neighbors heart surgery cost $330000, so it is not impossible to max out.

Thanks Kansas for the information.

Peter I am not certain about your processing. I think you are having a go at the National Insurance contribution, which covers pensions as well as health. But of course it does not. Our NHS costs about £110bn a year and employs 1.3 million people (3rd biggest employer in the world).

What interested me in this thread was the development in comparing costs around the globe so we could undertake fag packet comparisons.

I am aware that health costs in US of A are an 'item'. Here a self employed type of sole trader farm business would shell out about £2.50 a week class 2 contribution. If profits are higher then they have more to pay. If less than £5,000 then nothing. Through all of this our farmers get free health care, if the children need vaccinating or you think your cold maybe swine flu, you can pop down to quack and be checked out for free. I had catarcts done for free (marvelous). Health care costs to a small business here are not an 'item'.

A similar farm business in the States would get nothing unless it is an emergency. No anti biotic if you have a snuffle. The farm business has to find payments, big payments monthly to cover grand parents, parents and children. I understood when I was there this is about $1,200 per month. This is roughly what Kansas confirmed. I know this has nothing to do with fuel, but you don't need no fuel if you have no health. And if we are making comparisons about this place or that health costs to a small business in the States have a significant impact on their ability to compete in the commodity markets. Like wise health costs impact on the likes of GM to produce, (or not) ....cars.

 

motley:

£110bn a year and employs 1.3 million people (3rd biggest employer in the world).

Gee Motley. That is £1833.33 per man, woman and child. However, if we say the UK has 30 million taxpayers the total equates to £3666.66 each per year.

On the assumption that NHS income from non government sources is contra'd by borrowings. It means that every taxpayer is having to pay £3666 pounds each years just for the NHS. In addition he/she has to pay for EVERYTHING else.

Boy O Boy. No wonder the Americans are getting worried that Obama wants to create a US version of this behemoth of a hole in the ground.

 One thing everyone should figure out is there is no "free" healthcare.  This is the point we have been beating the hell out of each other with ever since the big O got elected(pardon me for the swearing Isabel).  The lefties believe if the government pays for it it is free, and it isn't.  Obama made the fatal error that sunk the ship(at least it now appears to be sunk) by trying to turn over the entire system, rather than simply deal with the uninsured, something I think would have been far more palatable for most Americans.  Most Americans seem to agree our system needs some changes, that is where most agreement ends.  Your NHS has been pointed to as both something we should admire, and fear.  Is it really the third biggest employer in the world?  This fact has made us Yankee conservatives just a little nervous too.