The current ratio between the price of corn and the price of fertilizer is now one of the worst in history. Corn farmers need to sell over 150 bushels of corn to pay for a ton of potash fertilizer — the worst on record. The corn-to-fertilizer price ratio for the nitrogen fertilizers urea and UAN are respectively the third-worst and second-worst of any June on record. This means that the cost of the U.S.’ important agricultural inputs is going up, even though the prices the corn and grain go for are low, putting significant pressure on farmers. One issue? The third-largest producer of urea fertilizer is a country called Iran, and it is not great to ship things in and out of there. The single largest producer is Russia, and that is a whole thing too. China, meanwhile, is restricting exports of phosphates and will likely only export 4 million tons this year, less than half their typical exports of 8 million to 10 million tons.
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