By Kimberly Van Meter and Nandita Basu
June 24, 2026
Introduction:
Further Extract:(The Conversation) American farmers are expected to plant several million fewer acres of corn in 2026 than they did in 2025, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz throttles a key fertilizer trading corridor, along with the energy and raw materials needed to produce and transport fertilizer.
The closure is disrupting deliveries of about one-third of the world’s traded agricultural fertilizers. Fertilizer prices are rising, and farmers worldwide are cutting back on fertilizer use or shifting to less fertilizer-intensive crops.
Conclusion:…decades of farmers using more fertilizer than they needed have quietly built up large reserves of nutrients in the soil, which crops can draw on, even when farmers aren’t applying fertilizer. Indeed, research has shown that in highly intensive agricultural systems, fertilizer application can be cut substantially with little to no effect on crop yields.
Read more here: https://theconversation.com/war-induce ... n-282553The limits of resilience
…Not every farm or field has enough leftover nutrients to maintain yields with less fertilizer, and the buffers that do exist in some fields will not last indefinitely. In parts of the world where the soil is low in nutrients, such as regions of sub-Saharan Africa, improving access to fertilizers remains essential for increasing food production and supporting livelihoods.
In places where nutrients have accumulated over decades of intensive use, the soil may serve as a buffer against losses in yield, at least for some amount of time, though exactly how much will vary with each field. The current growing season may provide opportunities to discover how strong that buffer is, and whether reducing fertilizer applications improves downstream water quality.
