Iran war has US farmers worried about the cost and availability of
fertilizer
[March 18, 2026] By
JACK DURA
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Tennessee farmer Todd Littleton expects to pay
$100,000 more for fertilizer this season, a 40% spike from his bill last
year thanks to the war in Iran — and he is scrambling to cover that
extra cost.
“The problem is, is we’re so strained financially coming into this
issue,” said Littleton, a third-generation farmer from Gibson County in
the state’s northwest corner. “We have had a couple of record losses the
last couple years, so everyone’s kinda grabbing at straws anyway, and
then to have input prices increase yet again, it just really couldn’t
happen at a worse time.”
Littleton, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat, is among thousands of
farmers across the country who will pay far more this spring than they
expected for fertilizer that is essential to their crops. Nitrogen-based
fertilizer is especially vital for corn, usually the largest crop in the
U.S. and one that feeds the nation’s livestock and is converted into
fuel that helps power most U.S. cars and trucks.
Farmers have complained about costly fertilizer for years, but prices
have soared even higher since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb.
28, leading to a slowdown in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a
chokepoint for 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas. Besides
increasing the price of fuel, which is key in the production of
fertilizer, the shipping disruption also has largely stopped the export
of nitrogen fertilizers manufactured in the Persian Gulf and limited
access to key fertilizer ingredients.
About 15% of fertilizer imports to the U.S. are from the Middle East,
and about half the global supply of the key ingredient urea comes from
the region, along with 30% of ammonia, according to the American Farm
Bureau Federation.
“When the ports started raising their nitrogen prices due to the
conflict due to shipping concerns, that directly affects me here on the
farm,” Littleton said.
The extra costs are hard to absorb, coming after several bad years when
crop prices were down even as expenses kept climbing, Littleton said.
Some farmers may not find fertilizer
But it could be worse, as some farmers may not be able to obtain
fertilizer at any price, said Zippy Duvall, president of the American
Farm Bureau Federation.
“We’re being told that many of our farmers that haven’t preordered their
fertilizer and paid for it may not even obtain the fertilizer that
they’re going to need during the season or for spring planting,” Duvall
said. “That’s why this situation is so serious.”
Harry Ott, a cotton, corn and peanut farmer who also leads the South
Carolina farm bureau, said there isn’t enough fertilizer stockpiled in
warehouses to meet demand in the coming months.
“It is a really dire situation that our farmers facing,” Ott said.
Experts say don't expect a quick fix
Even before the latest price increase, other factors in the last several
years have led to high fertilizer prices, starting with the war between
Ukraine and Russia, which blocked access to raw materials and increased
natural gas prices. China also cut phosphate exports as it focused more
on domestic needs.
The latest factors worsened those existing supply issues, which means
that even if the Iran war was resolved, fertilizer prices likely won’t
quickly fall, said Jacqui Fatka, a farm supply economist for creditor
CoBank.
“There’s going to be a tail to this to get everything turned back on,
sent back out,” Fatka said.
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Tom Waters, a seventh-generation farmer, stands next to his planting
machinery Friday, March 13, 2026, in Orrick, Mo. (AP Photo/Nick
Ingram)
 And then there is the time it takes
for shipments from the Middle East to reach the U.S. — typically 30
to 45 days to reach the Port of New Orleans.
Some fertilizer is already stored in the U.S. and can meet demand
amid the shortage of Middle East imports, but at some point that
supply will run short.
“We don’t quite know how it’s going to shake out,” said Nancy
Martinez, director of public policy, trade and biotechnology for the
National Corn Growers Association.
Nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers are largely produced
domestically, which helps a little bit, said Anne Villamil, a
professor of economics at the University of Iowa.
“But again, energy prices are an input, and so even if you’re
producing it in the U.S., if the cost of your inputs goes up, then
it’s going to be an increase in price to the farmers who want to buy
it,” Villamil said.
Soaring oil prices could result in higher food prices, given the
increased cost of diesel needed to transport products to grocery
stores and petroleum products used in plastic packaging, said Chad
Hart, an economics professor at Iowa State University.
However, the increased fertilizer prices shouldn't significantly
lead to grocery store increases even as they put a crimp in farmers'
profits. That's because on-farm costs are only a small part of what
consumers pay at the supermarket.
Efforts to curb the hit on farmers from costly fertilizer
The Trump administration said it has taken steps to ease the cost of
fertilizer, including moving to increase fertilizer imports from
Venezuela, which U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called “a
huge step that puts farm security and farmers first.”
The Department of Agriculture also notes it previously announced $12
billion in one-time payments to help farmers offset losses primarily
due to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. In a statement,
the USDA also said it has provided more than $30 billion in
additional aid to farmers since January 2025, and the agency noted
its support for a more competitive fertilizer marketplace that would
ultimately lower prices.
Fatka, of CoBank, said the $12 billion doesn’t go far for farmers
with a payment of $44 per corn acre when the USDA estimates about
$900 per acre for cost of production for the average U.S. farmer.
Still, farm bankruptcies remain rare, with only 315 last year — a
tiny percentage of the nearly 1.9 million farms nationally. And
prices for the nation’s two largest crops — corn and soybeans — have
been climbing recently.
Tom Waters, who farms about 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) of corn,
soybeans and wheat east of Kansas City, said the increase of
fertilizer prices along with other costs makes it tough to make a
profit when crop prices are so low.
“The margins get smaller and smaller so we just have to really work
hard to trim our costs and be as frugal as we can be but still
provide the soil and crop what it needs to grow and produce,” Waters
said.
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