Since the U.S. began bombing Iran, for example, restricted travel through the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted the flow of nitrogen fertilizer, sending the price spiraling upward. And that’s on top of what farmers will spend filling up their fuel tanks.
Beyond those higher costs, deportations have thinned out the labor force for some farmers. Tariffs increased the prices of goods such as machinery and caused tensions with China. Those tensions aren’t over: Last week, the Trump administration announced that a planned meeting with China, the United States’ No. 1 soybean export market, would be delayed for weeks. That helped send soybean prices tumbling.