The ripple effect of the Iran war on struggling U.S. farmers: “It couldn’t have come at a worst time”

Vinton, Iowa — Lance Lillibridge of Vinton, Iowa, has been farming his whole life, and says he’s worried for this year’s spring planting.

“It couldn’t have come at a worst time,” Lillibridge told CBS News of the Iran war.

The war has led to skyrocketing diesel and fertilizer prices. Lillibridge says the prices are piling onto an already struggling industry.

“It just feels like the world is trying to take this all away from us right now,” Lillibridge said.

The price of ammonia and urea, two fertilizer ingredients seeing disruptions, are up around 20% and 50% percent, respectively, since the start of the Iran war, according to Oxford Economics. The price of diesel gas is up 43.5%, according to AAA.

“This situation is not driven by either the person producing the food or the person buying it,” said Scott Marlow, an agricultural policy expert and former deputy administrator of farm programs at the USDA Farm Service Agency. “And it will have significant ramifications for both those who produce our food, and for those who eat it.”

Higher oil and gas prices have hurt the major stock indexes, and now Americans could feel it at the register.

“It really impacts the cost of every step of the process, all the way from seed, all the way through to finished product, which affects the price when it gets to your grocery store,” Marlow said.

Farmers had hoped to compensate for last year’s losses, when farm bankruptcies increased for the second year in a row. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, last year U.S. farm bankruptcies saw a 46% increase from 2024. 
Lillibridge says his costs have already increased 25% since last year. He argues the situation needs to resolve itself before more damage is done.

“If our kids see us struggling out here, why would they want to take it on?”