Iran War Promises Even More Pain for Farmers
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On farms across the United States and beyond, producers who are still reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chaos are now bracing for yet another big shock from his war in Iran.
The United States and Israel’s sweeping military campaign against Iran has triggered a widening war now reverberating across the entire Middle East, which is a crucial hub of fertilizer production and is already seeing shuttered fertilizer plants that have sent prices spiking.
On farms across the United States and beyond, producers who are still reeling from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chaos are now bracing for yet another big shock from his war in Iran.
The United States and Israel’s sweeping military campaign against Iran has triggered a widening war now reverberating across the entire Middle East, which is a crucial hub of fertilizer production and is already seeing shuttered fertilizer plants that have sent prices spiking.
The war has also effectively halted any transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime chokepoint and key shipping route in the fertilizer trade, promising even more pain for farmers worldwide. Between 20 and 30 percent of global fertilizer exports, as well as 20 percent of global exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG)—a key fertilizer feedstock—typically cross through the strait.
“Fertilizer prices were already high, and farmers were already pinched. So this will hurt,” Christopher Barrett, an agricultural........
