President’s War with Iran: Rep. McClain Delaney, Agriculture Committee Democrats Urge Action to Stabilize Fertilizer Prices
This week, Rep. April McClain Delaney—Maryland’s only member of the House Agriculture Committee—joined 17 fellow Democratic Members of the Committee in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to take immediate action to stabilize fertilizer prices. These disruptions stem from President Trump’s war with Iran and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the lawmakers detail how blocked shipments of key fertilizer ingredients — including urea and ammonia — along with port backlogs and shutdowns at regional production facilities, are driving up costs for American farmers just as planting season begins.
“It has become increasingly clear that the Administration decided to initiate hostilities without considering the obviously foreseeable consequences this would have upon American agriculture and the global economy,” the Members wrote. “Farmers will be forced to either pay higher prices for fertilizer that they need or go with less and risk low production yields; either way their tight margins—already in the red for many farmers—will only worsen.”
The Members also called on the Secretary to: publicly release an action plan for how the administration will reduce fertilizer prices and stabilize markets; examine how existing tariffs can be suspended or reduced to ease fertilizer prices; and estimate the increase in costs to farms because of higher diesel and fertilizer prices since the onset of the war.