farmers

University of Illinois research shows most growers believe consolidation among suppliers and retailers is driving up prices, while concerns about service and product availability are less pronounced.

Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy filings hit a six-year monthly high in April as total sector debt heads for a record $625B, with USDA’s pre-Hormuz projections already understating the true cost squeeze.

The temporary exemption permits longer shifts and suspends electronic logging device requirements for fertilizer transport during the peak summer season, aiming to ease supply chain pressure and support agriculture.

StoneX’s Josh Linville says the Iran war removed supply that cannot be quickly replaced, with all three major nutrients expected to remain structurally tight well beyond the 2026 planting season.

Disrupted Gulf supplies have sent urea to multi-year highs, pushing growers from Yorkshire to Kenya toward manure, urine, and microbial alternatives.

ADM will pay farmers in Illinois, Minnesota and Hungary for measurable outcomes in soil health, watershed quality and biodiversity, covering 18,500 acres of corn and soybean supply chain fields for Hill’s pet food.

Suppliers offered just 239,000 of the 521,000 tonnes sought, at prices ranging from $890 to $1,030/t CFR, signaling a severe and worsening global ammonia supply shortage.

All eight major fertilizers remain well above year-ago levels, with urea up 37% and anhydrous up 45%, though the pause ends a 13-week streak of significant weekly price gains.

Brussels is providing emergency agricultural aid and long-term supply security measures, though fertilizer producers caution that the package does not sufficiently address the decline of Europe’s domestic nitrogen industry.

Five witnesses told the Senate Agriculture Committee that the fertilizer crisis predates the Iran war and won’t end when it does.

The agency reports these lenders are linked to nearly half of delinquent OneRD guaranteed loans as oversight of federal rural lending programs increases.

The Lowering Input Costs for American Farmers Act targets a 2021 CVD order that has progressively collapsed in federal courts.

The AFBF’s survey of 5,700 producers during peak planting finds affordability worst in the South, where only 19% pre-booked fertilizer — and farm bankruptcies have now risen for three consecutive years.

With urea up 50% and ammonia up 30% since the Iran conflict began, the administration is deploying Jones Act waivers, Venezuela sanctions relief, and $1.5bn in DOE financing for new plants — while antitrust probes target fertilizer market concentration.

Chapter 12 filings rose 46% in 2025 — the third straight year of increases — as elevated fertilizer, fuel, and input costs weigh on family farm finances ahead of an unusually difficult 2026 growing season.