Central Illinois Voted For Trump. Now The Iran War Just Destroyed Their Harvest - The Logical Leftist

[TexasTowelie]

Clark County farmer John Yeley, whose family has farmed since 1852, says he can't even get a fertilizer quote right now — and he's looking at $100 or more per acre when he finally does. His neighbor Bart Morgan put the county in three words: "It's in the tank. There are farmers in our county that are not farming next year."

Clark County and Champaign County both voted for Trump — and within weeks of his Iran war starting on February 28, the bill arrived. Diesel in Champaign-Urbana hit $4.70 a gallon, up over $1 in 30 days. Gas rose $0.60 a gallon over last month. Fertilizer jumped by hundreds of dollars a ton.

John Yeley of the Clark County Farm Bureau brought a 10-year price chart to Capitol Hill showing anhydrous ammonia going from $380 a ton in 2016 to $1,500 at its peak — and now spiking back toward those levels right before planting season.

The mechanism is direct. Iran holds some of the world's largest natural gas reserves — the key feedstock for ammonia. Countries affected by the Strait of Hormuz closure account for nearly 49% of global urea exports and 30% of
global ammonia exports, per the American Farm Bureau Federation. The Strait closes, the supply stops moving, and the prices spike in real time on the farms of Central Illinois.

Bart Morgan, a fellow Clark County board member, said farmers in his county are already deciding not to farm next year because of the financials. He carries off-farm income just to keep his operation running. Yeley asked Congress to prioritize domestic fertilizer production and told them plainly it was not going to be a short-term fix.

Washington's response? A 60-day Jones Act waiver. For a crisis that Yeley himself says is not a short-term fix. That is America First in the farm belt — in diesel invoices and fertilizer costs and a balance sheet that no longer adds up.