As Colorado farmers prepare their fields for spring planting, many are sounding the alarm over fertilizer prices that have surged far beyond what they say global supply disruptions can explain.

With nitrogen costs up 30% in a matter of days, growers and lawmakers are questioning whether the industry is using geopolitical conflict as cover for advantageous price gouging.

The two main costs that farmers are growing increasingly concerned over as seeds for spring planting are going into the ground include fuel and fertilizer.

The rapid price spikes are being attributed to the Trump administration’s decision to go to war with Iran, now entering its fourth week. In retaliation, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping corridor, raising fears about disruptions to international exports.

In Colorado, Roy Pfaltgraff farms 2,000 acres near Haxtun, growing over a dozen different crops, including heirloom corn, oats, grain sorghum, millet, sunflowers and black-eyed peas. He grows gluten-free crops, operates a milling operation to process them, and is also a beekeeper.

The Pfaltzgraff farm is a dryland operation, meaning no irrigation. Oats were planted last week, he told Colorado Politics, and that requires a lot of fertilizer, though his focus on soil health allows him to use less.

He’s also getting ready to plant some of his other crops, and called his fertilizer dealer to get a price. “I can’t quote you a price right now,” he was told.

A week after that call, he learned the price of nitrogen-based fertilizer had shot up 30%.

Fertilizer is one of the three main costs for farmers, along with herbicides and seeds. Altogether, Pfaltgraff estimated that fertilizer takes up about 25% of his input costs.

The cost of planting corn is increasing to more than $50 per acre, up from the previous range of $150 to $200 per acre.

Commodity prices, which are set by the market, are currently low, making it difficult for farmers to break even. The break-even price for corn is about $4.75 per bushel; anything lower means a loss. An average acre produces roughly 250 bushels, he said.

The price of corn last September was $4.24/bushel.

But Pfaltzgraff and other farmers who spoke to Colorado Politics said most fertilizer companies imported their nitrogen long before the war in Iran began, raising concerns about price gouging.

“Why are we seeing these huge increases in price in stuff that’s already in warehouses?” he asked, noting that only about 20% of the nitrogen fertilizer imported to the U.S. comes from the Middle East.

China and India have been the top producers of nitrogen fertilizer, with the United States and Russia next.

The attention to potential price-gouging has not gone unnoticed.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley sent a letter to the top five fertilizer companies in the U.S. He wrote that “the price run-ups American farmers are facing far outpace any disruption from recent events. To be more specific, the percentage of U.S. fertilizer supply affected by issues in the Hormuz Strait appears to be minimal compared to the sudden change in prices.” 

Hawley noted the industry consolidation, pointing out that “a small group of firms dominates the domestic market for nitrogen, phosphate, and potash.”

A coalition of 54 agricultural groups sent a letter last week to President Donald Trump, asking for market relief for America’s farmers and pointing out what has happened to fertilizer prices in recent weeks.

Potash, which is mined, is another fertilizer whose prices are raising questions. The biggest exporter to the United States is not the Middle East. It’s Canada, which supplies as much as 88% of the potash to the American market.

Prices for potash, a potassium-bearing compound used as fertilizer, have also spiked in recent weeks.

Justin Lewton runs a 35,000 dryland farm near Bennet, where his primary crop is wheat, although he also grows corn and millet.

He calls the price increases for fertilizer a farce, given that nitrogen comes from natural gas, phosphorus largely is mined in the U.S. and potassium mostly comes from Canada.

None of that goes through the Strait of Hormuz, he told Colorado Politics this week.

He also believes most of the fertilizer needed for this spring’s planting has been sitting in U.S. warehouses. “We shouldn’t be subject to massive price increases,” he said.

He also pointed to big profits for the largest U.S. fertilizer companies, saying he believes antitrust laws should be better enforced.

Lewton said he tried to prepay for his fertilizer in the past, but his supplier wouldn’t work with him.

He said he doesn’t blame the local retailers, who he said are doing an absolute service to customers by making things work, and don’t want to see their neighbors go out of business. It’s the higher-ups who are creating these conditions, he said.

As a self-proclaimed capitalist, Lewton said he doesn’t begrudge the companies for making profits, but it’s an issue he says is out of control.