Landry Declares Emergency Over Record Diesel Prices to Help Farmers, Timber Haulers

BATON ROUGE, La. — Governor Jeff Landry signed a statewide state of emergency this week over the price of diesel fuel, an order that gives farmers and timber haulers across Acadiana a temporary break on fuel regulations just as sugarcane, rice and soybean harvests hit their busiest stretch of the year.

The executive order, listed as JML 26-090, takes effect Wednesday and runs through October 22. It applies statewide and covers Class 2 and Class 5 vehicles registered for highway use, the trucks that haul crops, timber and equipment on public roads during harvest.

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What the Order Actually Changes

For the next month, farmers and timber harvesters can run dyed or “off-road” diesel in highway-registered farm and log trucks without facing the penalties normally attached to that fuel. State law typically prohibits using tax-exempt, dyed diesel in vehicles licensed for the road, with fines running $10 per gallon or $1,000, whichever is higher. Landry’s order suspends that penalty under R.S. 47:818.52 for the life of the emergency, meaning operators can pull from on-farm dyed fuel tanks instead of waiting on deliveries of taxed, on-road diesel.

The order also directs the Louisiana Department of Revenue to formally request dyed diesel fuel penalty relief from the IRS within three business days, under the same federal manual the agency has used to grant relief during past regional fuel shortages.

a close up of a gas pump with a car in the background

A statewide price-gouging protection kicked in alongside the fuel change. Under R.S. 29:732, sellers can’t charge more for goods and services in the emergency area than they charged before the emergency began, unless the increase tracks actual market or supply costs.

Why Acadiana Farmers Are Feeling It Now

The timing lines up with the busiest diesel-burning stretch of the Louisiana growing season. Sugarcane, rice and soybean harvests are underway across Acadiana and the sugar parishes to the east, and combines, cane harvesters and grain trucks run on diesel from sunup to dark during these weeks. Patrick Frischhertz, a sugarcane farmer near Plaquemine, told KSLA his operation now burns through roughly 7,500 gallons every 10 days at a price he called “two and a half times roughly of what we experienced last year.” He said there’s “no operating profit margin this year.”

The order itself cites Louisiana’s average retail diesel price at an all-time high of $6.03 a gallon, more than 80 percent higher than a year ago. The LSU AgCenter built its 2026 crop budgets around an assumed diesel price of $2.85 a gallon, less than half what farmers are actually paying at the pump this harvest.

Federal data backs up the squeeze. National distillate fuel inventories sat at 107.9 million barrels for the week ending September 11, with days of supply down to 29.9, the lowest the U.S. Energy Information Administration has recorded for that week going back through its records. The agency’s September outlook projects inventories will stay below the five-year low through much of 2027.

The Export Fight Behind the Emergency

Louisiana’s order comes as diesel exports out of the United States have climbed to their highest levels on record. Exports reached 1.935 million barrels per day for the week ending August 7, the highest weekly figure since the EIA started tracking the series in 2010, and topped 1.7 million barrels per day in five of the eight weeks between late July and mid-September. Net exports have run at or near five-year highs in every month of 2026 since February, a stretch that has coincided with the low inventories the EIA says are contributing to higher domestic diesel prices.

cargo truck full of tree logs passing on road

That’s the backdrop for Landry’s separate push urging the Trump administration and Congress to pause diesel exports for 90 days, a proposal the Louisiana Illuminator reports has drawn pushback from refining industry groups, who argue that halting shipments abroad would more likely shrink domestic diesel production than bring prices down. This week’s state of emergency leaves that export fight to Washington and instead tackles the fuel-rule penalty in front of farmers right now, letting them keep equipment running through harvest while the larger battle plays out.

The order also points to a federal Hours of Service waiver issued September 16 for drivers hauling gasoline and diesel, part of a broader effort to keep fuel moving into Louisiana and other states as harvest demand peaks alongside President Trump’s national energy emergency, first declared in January 2025 and extended through January 2027.

What Happens When the Order Expires

Landry’s emergency runs for 30 days unless he extends, amends or ends it early. That gives Acadiana farmers a window through the heart of harvest season to run on dyed fuel without the added highway-tax penalty, but it doesn’t lower the price of diesel itself. Unless federal inventories rebound or the export picture shifts, farmers could be back to the same math on fuel costs once the order lapses in late October, right as the sugarcane harvest typically stretches into its final weeks.

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