Corn and wheat growers associations hosted an event Sept. 11, 2026 in Ogden, Iowa to discuss anti-competitive practices in the fertilizer industry. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Ogden – U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden was in Iowa Friday, asking farmers from across the country to share their experiences dealing with consolidation and pricing issues in the fertilizer industry.
Vaden, who previously served as a judge on the U.S. Court of International Trade and as USDA’s general counsel, said the individual stories from farmers will help as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigates the industry for potential unfair pricing or anti-competitive practices.
“Anybody can explain away one thing, you might be able to explain away two or three things, but if we’ve got 100 such stories from farmers all across this country, it becomes very difficult for even sophisticated lawyers to explain away such a large and broad-based phenomenon,” Vaden said.
Vaden spoke at an event hosted by Iowa Corn Growers Association, along with corn and wheat growers associations from South Dakota, Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and more. The event was titled “Fed Up: Fertilizer Cartel Profits on Farmers’ Backs” and promoted the site SaveFamilyFarms.US, where farmers and members of the agricultural industry can submit “evidence” of unfair pricing or anti-competitive practices they have encountered.
The site allows producers to submit evidence anonymously because Vaden said farmers might be “reasonably worried about retaliation.”
Several farmers and folks trying to add additional fertilizer options to the market spoke on a panel Friday about their experiences.
Linda Thrasher is the co-founder of Greenfield Nitrogen, a farmer-formed company attempting to build a regional-sized anhydrous ammonia manufacturing and storage facility in Iowa. Thrasher said the company has been working for 12 years to try and secure sufficient off-take agreements in order to open the 300,000-ton facility.
Thrasher said Friday the retailers and farmer cooperatives they have approached won’t make a deal with them, for fear of being “blackballed” by the main companies they purchase from.
“They’re scared,” Thrasher said. “I think the intimidation is very real.”
Another panelist, Keith Busch, the CEO of the Canadian company ClearCost, which is a trading and risk management software for fertilizer, shared examples of instances in which he alleged he has seen fertilizer inputs to Canada get held up in distribution logistics to control the demand. Or, he alleged, top fertilizer companies have worked to “crater” fertilizer prices around other companies that try to bring in additional product to keep them from trying to break into the industry.
Vaden, speaking with reporters after the event, said the phrases used by panelists made it sound “like we’re talking about ‘The Godfather,’ not the fertilizer market.”
“And yet, these are what people are reporting,” Vaden said. “…You don’t have to be an economist and you don’t have to be a lawyer to hear what we have heard today and realize something’s not right.”
A statement from The Fertilizer Institute said the industry is impacted by a “complex set” of factors, including: global production and demand changes, geopolitical events, weather, trade patterns and government policies.
“TFI members and all fertilizer companies compete fiercely with each other in a robust, global market,” the statement said. “Here in the U.S., we have one of the most competitive fertilizer sectors in the world.”
Steve Kuiper, president of Iowa Corn Growers Association, said the situation is “dire” and “unlike anything we have seen since the ’80s.”
He said there are “so few sellers” that there is no “shopping around.”
“Farmers are simply told the price, and you’re forced to take it,” Kuiper said.
According to statistics on the Save Family Farms site, farm bankruptcies in Iowa have had a 220% year-over-year increase. Farmers at the event said input prices are part of the financial stress making it harder to do business.
“We’re not asking anyone to set our prices; we’re not asking anybody for a free lunch or for a payment,” Kuiper said. “We just want a fair market with a handful of sellers and a handful of suppliers that we can work with, that will allow us to be able to run our businesses successfully.”
Several Iowa farmers from the audience said they worried about the ability of future generations to come back to the farm if something is not done soon.
“If we don’t get a hold of the fertilizer industry, there may not be second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, generation farmers along the way,” Danny Kuenzel, a farmer from Missouri, said. “That’s all I’m saying.”
What’s been done and where it’s headed
In addition to the investigation from the FTC, USDA is working to spur domestic fertilizer production.
At the end of August, USDA participated in groundbreaking events at two new fertilizer facilities in Louisiana. One of them, Vaden said was the first new phosphate plant built in the U.S. since 1984, and the other will represent the world’s largest ammonia plant by nameplate capacity.
Vaden said the new domestic supply will help farmers and take some of the market share away from the dominant fertilizer companies.
In late June, the administration also suspended countervailing duties levied on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco in an effort to bring a greater supply of the fertilizer to U.S. shores and thus lower prices.
USDA also initiated the Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-term Domestic Supply, or FIELDS program, to fund domestic projects expanding, upgrading or constructing new fertilizer production facilities that are owned and operated outside of the “dominant” fertilizer suppliers. FIELDS is a $500 million program.
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, an Iowa Republican, attended the event Friday and said Congress is also working on policies, like U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s bills for fertilizer research and price transparency.
“We are here to listen, we are here to follow through on your stories, and we are here to tell those stories and get action in Washington D.C.” Hinson said.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig also attended the event Friday, along with Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who urged producers to share their stories with the department.
“I would just encourage you – gather that evidence,” Bird said. “Whatever ways that you can make that available, anonymous or with your name on it. That is really what makes all the difference for a case like this.”
Vaden said the USDA is trying to play “3D chess” to address the issue of high fertilizer prices for farmers. He said the department also plans to bring in additional fertilizer supplies from other sources, like Venezuela.
“The reason why I am here with you today and am so interested in being here and listening to what you have to say, is we all know something hasn’t been right in the fertilizer market,” Vaden said. “We all know that it’s not really a free market.”
The deputy secretary said he doesn’t know a specific date that a Justice Department case will be finalized, but said “it’s coming.”
“Events like this make it sooner that we will be able to pursue action, because when farmers come together and are willing to give us information … this is what all drives it toward the ultimate conclusion,” Vaden said.