China Grove (AFP) — On Andy Corriher’s farm in North Carolina, planting and preparations are underway for his corn and soybean crops — but fertilizer costs have surged on war in the Middle East, and orders he placed weeks ago have yet to arrive.
The 47-year-old is among US farmers facing a double whammy of soaring fertilizer and diesel prices after US-Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Tehran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for such shipments.
“This time of year is when the majority of fertilizer is put out in this country,” Corriher told Agence France-Presse.
“We got hit at the worst possible time, because we’re trying to buy fertilizer when it skyrockets and when the supply also gets cut.”
The cost hikes strike at a major support base for President Donald Trump, who won 78 percent of the 2024 vote in farming-dependent counties, said news service Investigate Midwest.
Trump blamed “price gouging from the fertilizer monopoly” on Saturday, vowing: “American Farmers, we have your back!”
But spring planting is already ongoing, with Corriher loading bags of dry fertilizer onto a tractor, hauling them to his fields.
“I’ve ordered several loads of liquid nitrogen a few weeks ago, and they’re still saying they’re not sure when it’ll be delivered,” Corriher said.
Since the war, Corriher estimates that the nitrogen fertilizer he uses rose by at least 40 percent in price.
The cost of urea — a common nitrogen-based fertilizer — had jumped by around 50 percent at the port of New Orleans.