As temperatures rise across the Midwest and Delta, the familiar sound of spring planting is returning. From Missouri to Mississippi, planters are beginning to roll, signaling the start of another growing season.
But beneath that seasonal optimism lies a deepening financial strain for U.S. farmers, driven not just by high input costs overall, but by sharp increases in fertilizer and diesel prices that are reshaping planting decisions and profitability outlooks. The recent price surge is also fueling Congress to push for greater transparency into fertilizer pricing.
Lawmakers Push for Transparency and Answers
Just this week, Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Brad Finstad (R-MN) introduced the bipartisan Fertilizer Transparency Act in the House with support from co-sponsors, including Angie Craig (D-MN). The legislation would require USDA to publish weekly fertilizer price reports, providing farmers with more timely and accurate market data.
The House legislation came a week after the Senate introduced similar legislation. The Senate Fertilizer Transparency Act of 2026 was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers last week, led by Sen. John Thune (R‑SD) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D‑MN), with additional support from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D‑WI) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R‑IA). The Senate bill would also require USDA to collect and publish weekly fertilizer price data to give farmers clearer, more timely market information.
Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is calling for a federal investigation into recent fertilizer price spikes, raising concerns about possible gouging linked to shipping disruptions and demanding answers from major fertilizer companies by the end of the month. He sent a letter to the Department of Justice and fertilizer companies earlier this month demanding answers by today, March 27.
Farm Journal reached out to Mosaic Company, Nutrien and CF Industries for comment but did not receive responses.
Texas Corn Producers member and farmer Dee Vaughan says Hawley is asking the questions farmers need answered.
“This shouldn’t even be impacting us for another 75 days, but yet our prices on fertilizer that’s already in the warehouse are seeing dramatic increases,” he says. “It certainly appears to be price gouging on the part of the fertilizer industry.”
Longstanding Concerns Over Market Concentration
In September 2025, USDA and the U.S. Department of Justice signed a Memorandum of Understanding, committing both agencies to jointly examine high and volatile input costs, which included fertilizer, by scrutinizing competitive conditions in agricultural markets and enforcing antitrust laws, particularly around price setting and market concentration.
While geopolitical tensions are the latest driver of volatility, many farm groups argue the root of the problem runs deeper. Matt Perdue, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, says ongoing federal investigations into fertilizer pricing must lead to meaningful action.
“We appreciate the administration’s investigations into input costs,” Perdue says. “But investigations don’t do anything if they’re not followed by enforcement, and they don’t do anything if we don’t learn what came out of those investigations.”
Groups like the Texas Corn Producers Association have been raising concerns about fertilizer market concentration for years. Vaughan says the organization began studying the issue in 2020, working with the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M to examine pricing trends.
“We’ve been very concerned about all of our input costs, but specifically fertilizer, because it’s the one that just keeps going up almost exponentially,” Vaughan says.
He adds those studies found a shift in how fertilizer prices are determined. Historically tied closely to natural gas costs, the study found nitrogen fertilizer pricing began tracking corn prices more closely after 2010, a change Vaughan says reflects deeper structural issues.
According to Vaughan, the small number of firms controlling the market have the data and market awareness to price inputs based on farmers’ revenue potential, rather than production costs.
“They all have economists on staff,” Vaughan says. “They know exactly what our costs are, what our income is, and they’re able to extract value based on what they see as the gross income of a farmer. It’s not based on cost of production any longer.”
The 2022 study also found of the nitrogen fertilizer industry found that four major manufacturers - CF Industries, Nutrien, Koch Industries, and Yara International - account for roughly 75% of total U.S. nitrogen fertilizer production.
While the industry cited inflation and nationwide supply chain disruptions as drivers of higher prices for farmers at the time, the study found trends that challenge that narrative. According to the research, natural gas, which typically makes up 70-90% of variable production costs for nitrogen fertilizer, contributes only a fraction to recent price spikes. Specifically, for anhydrous ammonia, the study showed that natural gas accounts for just 15% of the increase, about $102, suggesting other factors are influencing soaring costs.
That concern is also the focus of a reported antitrust investigation by the DOJ announced in September, which is looking into whether major fertilizer producers have coordinated to inflate prices.
Similar to Perdue’s sentiments, Vaughan says farmers are waiting for results.
“Very simple; take action,” he says. “It’s one thing to have a memorandum of understanding or an executive order. But if it’s not followed through with actual investigation and actual work, it’s just words on paper.”
Fertilizer Prices Add Additional Strains at Planting
Perdue says the situation on the ground is as concerning as he has seen in years. Speaking after a recent fly-in to Washington, D.C., Perdue says many farmers are bracing for a difficult year ahead.
“We’re really, really concerned about the state of the farm economy,” Perdue says. “I asked our group yesterday to raise their hand if they anticipated breaking even in 2026, and not a single person raised their hand. That’s a message that Congress needs to hear.”
Perdue says fertilizer prices have become one of the most pressing challenges this spring. While some producers locked in inputs early — either through fall application or prepurchasing — many others delayed decisions, hoping for price relief that never came.
“There are some producers who got ahead with it and did some fall application, some who saw that prices were going to start jumping and bought their fertilizer a few weeks ago,” he says. “But there are a lot of people who still have fertilizer to book. When we’re seeing skyrocketing prices already at high levels, that’s a big concern for farmers across the country.”
That hesitation, he says, was driven by both financial pressure and uncertainty. Many farmers spent the winter working with lenders to map out their 2026 plans, while others gambled that prices might ease.
“I think there were two factors,” Perdue says. “One is the economic pain. A lot of producers have spent the last few months trying to figure out what 2026 looks like with their lender. The other is that producers saw high fertilizer costs in the fall and winter and said, ‘Maybe I’ll hold off and see if we get some relief.’ That’s obviously not coming with the current environment.”
Policy Pressure Builds in Washington
Fertilizer costs were a central topic during Perdue’s recent testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. While the hearing focused on increasing domestic consumption of U.S. agricultural products, input costs quickly entered the discussion.
“The fertilizer cost on an acre of wheat is about 40% of your production cost, and that’s going up 30% now,” Perdue says. “You can’t make it work. You can’t make it pencil out. We have to look at market structures and the way they create challenges for market participants.”
At the same time, global events are compounding the issue. The White House recently announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, citing disruptions tied to conflict involving Iran that have impacted global shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz. The move is intended to ease pressure on energy and fertilizer markets by allowing foreign vessels to transport goods between U.S. ports.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says the waiver will help keep supplies moving, while National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett says the administration is also seeking alternative fertilizer sources, including potential imports from Venezuela and Morocco.
“It’s almost planting season, and there’s a lot of fertilizer that usually goes down during planting season,” Hassett says. “What we’ve been doing as an insurance policy to the disruption is finding other sources. I’m not saying we can eliminate disruption, but we can minimize it.”
The Search for Immediate Relief
As farmers head into planting season, the search for both short-term relief and long-term reform continues. Darren Hudson of Texas Tech University suggests one immediate step could involve revisiting regulations tied to diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which uses urea — a key nitrogen fertilizer component.
“Do away with it for multiple reasons,” Hudson says. “It’s urea that’s being put into people’s tanks rather than on people’s fields. That would ease things in the short run. In the long run, that was a disaster of a regulation.”
For now, however, most farmers are focused on getting crops in the ground, despite an economic outlook that remains highly uncertain. With input costs climbing, global instability lingering and policy solutions still in development, the 2026 growing season is shaping up to be one of the most financially challenging in recent memory.