Oklahoma farmers are heading into planting season under growing pressure as fertilizer prices surge and supplies tighten. A KOSU report says the price of urea, a widely used nitrogen fertilizer, has jumped 25% since the end of February as the war in Iran disrupts global markets.
The problem goes beyond fertilizer alone. The Strait of Hormuz, a major route for oil, gas and fertilizer shipments, has been closed as a result of the conflict, creating ripple effects that are now being felt in Oklahoma farm country.
Stacy Simunek, president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, said some cooperatives are already struggling to get certain nitrogen fertilizers at all. He said the squeeze is hitting farmers across the state at a time when many were already dealing with low crop prices, high operating costs and uncertainty going into spring planting.
Fuel costs are adding even more strain. Oklahoma’s average regular gas price was $3.14 on March 13, about 80 cents higher than a month earlier, while diesel used for farm equipment was averaging $4.18.
Simunek said a one dollar jump in diesel can mean hundreds of extra dollars a day just to keep tractors running. For Oklahoma farmers, this is not some distant foreign conflict. It is already showing up in the cost of planting, the cost of running equipment and the fear that producing food is becoming harder by the day. As Simunek put it, the question now is who is going to feed this nation.
