Trump Mulls Farmer Aid As Fertilizer And Fuel Costs Bite

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is considering support for U.S. farmers struggling with high fertilizer prices, as rising energy costs and market volatility continue to squeeze producers across the farm belt.

"I am looking at doing a form of help," Trump told reporters at the White House, without giving details.

Farmers face pressure from fertilizer and fuel costs, both of which have been affected by the conflict with Iran and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy and fertilizer trade.

Fertilizer prices have eased from recent highs, with granular urea prices in New Orleans falling to $453.50 per short ton, their lowest level since Feb. 6, reported Bloomberg Green Markets on June 8.

That was down 36 percent from a mid-April peak.

The market remains vulnerable to disruption, particularly because urea is the most widely used nitrogen fertilizer and nearly half of global urea exports come from countries affected by the Middle East conflict.

High fuel prices have also hit farmers.

Diesel prices reached record highs in parts of the Midwest in May, including Indiana and Illinois, due to the Iran war. Grain and soybean farmers are especially exposed because diesel is needed for tractors, combines, irrigation, and crop transport.

The pressure in farming has become a heated political issue in Washington.

At a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on June 10, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) challenged Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins over whether Trump administration policies had increased farmers' costs.

"Georgia farmers are telling me that they continue to struggle with high costs, costs exacerbated by President Trump's war in Iran, and his tariffs - which is a tax on all of us on virtually everything," Warnock said.

Warnock said that the administration had lowered tariffs on some farm equipment and asked whether that move was an acknowledgement that tariffs had raised the cost of farming.

However, Rollins defended the administration's record, saying it was working to reduce the agricultural trade deficit.

"We're cutting that $50 billion agricultural trade deficit in half that we inherited a year and a half ago," she said.

Warnock pressed again, asking whether tariffs had increased costs for farmers, saying Rollins was "forecasting" future results rather than answering the question.

Rollins said that the Trump administration is "reshoring fertilizer back to America."

"In two or three weeks, we're going to break ground in Louisiana on what will be the largest fertilizer plant in the world," she said.

In May, farmers called for emergency relief and adoption of key bills to stem soaring fertilizer costs.

"American farmers are price-takers on both ends, paying monopoly prices for inputs they must buy, then accepting commodity prices they cannot control, with no pricing power on either side," Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) said during a May 12 Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing.

"That's not a market. It's a trap for the American farmers."

"Simply put, farmers need more competition in this marketplace," South Dakota Corn Growers Association president Trent Kubik said.

"Federal antitrust laws exist for precisely this reason - to promote and sustain competition, the lifeblood of our economy.

"Increased competition for more participants in the fertilizer manufacturing space is the only thing that can deliver meaningful and durable price relief."

The concern is not limited to the United States.

European Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen said this week that Europe needs long-term fertilizer solutions to avoid food shortages.

"We need to do our homework as well and address the issues to make fertilizers not only available but also affordable, because, otherwise, there will be food shortages in the European Union," Hansen told Euronews on June 10.

He said many European farmers were considering not planting because production had become too expensive and they could not easily pass on the costs.

Reuters and John Haughey contributed to this report.