Gas prices continue to climb and are affecting local co-ops, including one that packages and markets beans out of California.
As of Wednesday, the average price of regular gas throughout California jumped 4 cents from Tuesday to $5.33, and that’s $1.76 more than the national average, according to AAA.
“If fuel prices stay the way they are when they start harvesting, it obviously just cuts into their margin, as well, and it becomes harder to be a farmer,” Kellen Kubo, Rhodes-Stockton Bean Co-op general manager, said. “I think, ultimately, they get hit pretty hard as a farmer in California and higher fuel prices just make it even more challenging.”…