USDA moves to ease soaring fertilizer costs amid global supply disruptions and market concerns

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:58:00 +0200

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking a series of steps to address sharply rising fertilizer prices that are squeezing American farmers during the spring planting season. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the Trump administration is temporarily easing shipping constraints, boosting imports of key nutrients, and opening new supply channels, including from Venezuela, to ease regional shortages. The USDA is also reinstating a Biden‑era program that committed about $900 million to support the creation of new domestic fertilizer‑manufacturing facilities, part of a longer‑term effort to reduce dependence on imports from countries such as Russia and China.

Global supply disruptions linked to conflict in the Middle East have played a major role in the price spike, with roughly 30% of global nitrogen fertilizer supply passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Rollins noted that four companies control about 75% of the U.S. nitrogen fertilizer market, prompting the USDA and