Farmers Face Heavy Burden from Tariffs

Farm families are still paying the price for tariffs that upended their budgets — and the pain hasn't let up, even after the policies that caused it began to unravel. Fertilizer, diesel, seed, and equipment costs climbed sharply under the tariffs, and while some duties have since been rolled back or struck down, the higher prices have stuck. Agriculture is a foundation of the American economy, but rising input costs and collapsing margins are squeezing farm families and making it harder for them to stay on the land.

Fertilizer Costs Remain High

Fertilizer often makes up over 30% of the costs for row-crop farmers who grow corn, soybeans, and wheat. Prices spiked when tariffs hit in 2025 — and they haven't come back down for the people who actually buy it.

For the 2026 growing season, fertilizer prices are running 10–15% higher than 2025, with nitrogen — the workhorse nutrient for corn and wheat — driving the increase. When the Trump administration rolled back fertilizer tariffs in November 2025, wholesale prices dropped fast. But research from North Dakota State University found that retail prices stayed "sticky," leaving farmers still paying tariff-inflated premiums into 2026. In fact, NDSU found the cost pass-through to farmers exceeded 100% — meaning producers absorbed more than the tariff itself. To cope, many farmers are cutting back on fertilizer, knowing it could mean smaller harvests.

Impact of Iran War

Then came another blow. After the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in late February 2026, a slowdown in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz choked off global fertilizer supplies and sent the price of urea — the most widely traded nitrogen fertilizer — soaring. About half the world's urea comes from the Middle East, with Qatar and Saudi Arabia among the top sources of U.S. fertilizer imports. A ceasefire brought some relief, but urea prices have stayed elevated. To cope, many farmers are cutting back on fertilizer, knowing it could mean smaller harvests.

Impact on Consumers 

The squeeze shows up at the grocery store. The squeeze doesn't stop at the farm gate — it follows every family to the checkout line. Grocery prices have steadily climbed outpacing the inflation rate on nearly everything else Americans buy, and they have not come back down. The average U.S. household now spends nearly $700 a month just on groceries, and over 66% of Americans find groceries unaffordable. Beef has been hit hardest of all: rising 23% since January 2025. milk has climbed as much as 17% in Western states, and gasoline — the fuel behind every planting, harvest, and grocery run — has surged more than 30%. Coffee jumped nearly 19% in a single year — the steepest increase of any major grocery item.

And these increases stack and become a cumulative burden that leaves family food budgets permanently higher. The same forces squeezing farmers are the ones raising prices at the checkout line.

Impact on Farmers & Their Families 

For farm families, the math has stopped working. The USDA forecasts net farm income to fall to $153.4 billion in 2026 — roughly 24% below the 2022 record, a generational downturn. Strip out government payments and the picture is stark: net farm income would plunge nearly 12%, with federal support now propping up nearly 29% of producers' bottom line. The median farm household is actually projected to lose money on farming this year, staying afloat only on off-farm jobs. Production expenses, meanwhile, remain at record highs. Farm bankruptcies climbed again in 2025, and in a Purdue survey this spring, nearly half of farmers said their operation was worse off financially than a year earlier.

Doug Bartek, a fifth generation farmer from Nebraska, says: ""Our biggest struggles are our inputs, be it fertilizer, seed, chemical, parts," Bartek said. "There has been so much drastic markup in all of these. And I just kind of feel like the farmer's kind of painted in the corner."

Rising fertilizer, diesel, and feed costs leave less money for equipment repairs, family needs, and reinvestment in the next season. Farm income is the backbone of rural communities across the nation, and when it collapses, the damage ripples outward — to Main Street businesses, to schools, to families holding on to land that's been theirs for generations.