The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has warned that American farmers will be planting less corn this year due to rising fertiliser and fuel prices because of the Iran war.
Farmers intend to plant 38.5 million hectares (95.3 million acres) of corn this year, down from 40 million hectares (98.8 million acres) in 2025, according to the USDA.
Corn and wheat require more costly fertiliser, making them less attractive for growers to plant, with the war cutting off critical nitrogen supplies from the Gulf.
Spiking fertiliser costs are the latest hurdle for farmers grappling with weak grain prices, rising bills for other inputs and uncertainty over China’s demand for US crops due to Trump’s trade war with Beijing.
John Yeley, an Illinois farmer who grows corn and soybeans, said prices for nitrogen, a key fertiliser component, are going up so fast that he can’t even get suppliers to commit to a price ahead of purchases.
“When I call a retailer right now … I could not get a price on any nitrogen source out there,” he said.
The war has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a major chokepoint through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and one-third of the world’s fertilizer pass.
While most fertilizer used on US farms is made in North America, the rising cost of natural gas means American-made fertiliser will get more expensive as well. The price for imported urea, a crystallised form of nitrogen that powers much of the world’s farming, has risen by close to a third since the US and Israel attacked Iran, according to FactSet.
“When farmers face supply shortages or major price increases, those impacts ripple through the entire food chain,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, at a press conference three weeks ago.
Source: Al Jazeera and CNN