Headline: Des Moines Register, 3/19/2026
Donnelle Eller reports:
About a month away from planting this year’s crops, some farmers say local suppliers have declined to provide them with a price for nitrogen and other fertilizers. Those who've gotten estimates say prices are as much as 40% higher than they were last fall.
Iran's threat to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region has cut off about half of the global supply of urea, a widely used nitrogen fertilizer derived from oil, according to an American Farm Bureau market analysis and data from The Fertilizer Institute, an industry group. It's also blocked about 20% of the world's natural gas supply, this the group says is “a foundational input for most nitrogen fertilizers.”
Mark Mueller, a northeast Iowa farmer, said his price for anhydrous ammonia ― another form of nitrogen fertilizer produced with natural gas ― climbed $100 to $950 a ton, or about 12%, over four days in early March. Mueller, the Iowa Corn Growers Association board president, said another supplier "quit taking orders for nitrogen fertilizer,” sending an email to customers that said, "We’re not sure we can get it.” [emphasis added]
Related posts:
March 16-31, 2026
"Dear Media, stop acting like Trump means what he says" (Iran War edition). (3/24)
March 11-15, 2026
March 6-10, 2026
Sycophants at Fox News give Trump cover with old news clip for his disrespect of slain soldiers. (3/9)
GOP as a bag of pretzels. (3/6)
March 1-5. 2026
Thanks to Trump's War of Whimsy against Iran, the price of crude oil has recently shot up 22%. (3/5)
Pete Hegseth at the podium: This is exactly what an authoritarian's henchman and fulltime sycophant would say. (3/4)
Thanks to Trump, price of oil spikes like a bad fever. You’ll soon be feeling the chill at the gas pump — if not already . (3/3)
Corporate media needs to stop acting like Trump means what he says (Iran War edition). (3/2)
February 2026
Donald Trump: Not a details guy (Attacking Iran edition). (2/26)
