INPUTS

Fertilizer price spikes are clouding spring planting as farmers warn of mounting financial strain, while lawmakers push for greater transparency with recently proposed legislation in both the House and Senate.

While an unexpected March freeze is causing some farmers in Mississippi to replant corn, a mild spring is spurring early planting, with some farmers reporting they’ll finish planting corn by the end of this week.

As the five-year sunset review begins, corn growers are urging regulators to scrap phosphate duties they say have restricted supply and cost U.S. agriculture $1 billion each year.

Fertilizer prices were already elevated, but they’re now surging just weeks before spring planting. What can be done to ease costs in the short term as well as fix the problem for good?

As fertilizer prices emerge as a top threat to profitability, analysts highlight structural supply issues and global trade shifts that leave little room for price relief despite growing domestic frustration.

Economists say cash rent acre expansion comes at too high of a cost with low commodity prices and high input prices.

At a fiery Senate hearing, farmers and lawmakers call out corporate consolidation for driving up input costs, while industry leaders insist global geopolitics, not greed, are to blame.

As fertilizer prices and demand hold firm this fall, Josh Linville with Stone X Group warns prices could climb higher if reported government aid payments arrive this year.

As farmers think about 2026 cropping plans, step one is to book fall fertilizer. However, those plans are leading to challenging discussions about profitability and what can be applied as a bare minimum.

NCGA’s Krista Swanson says it would take about 226 bu. of corn to buy a ton of ammonium phosphate, which is up from the 180 bu. it took at the beginning of this year. As fertilizer costs are on the rise, corn prices are now at or below $4, and it’s creating a grim outlook for 2026.