WASHINGTON, D.C. – The USDA announced a $500 million effort to increase fertilizer access – which is restricted due to the ongoing military turmoil in the Middle East and Strait of Hormuz – for American farmers. USDA’s Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) Program is designed to expand domestic fertilizer manufacturing, strengthen America’s fertilizer supply chain, and improve long-term affordability for American farmers.

A July 1 USDA news release stated that utilizing the authorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), USDA will make $500 million available through the FIELDS Program to support construction and expansion of domestic fertilizer production facilities. The program prioritizes shovel-ready, financially viable projects capable of increasing production of critical crop nutrients.

In the news release, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins blamed the most recent spike in fertilizer prices – which began following the Feb. 28 launch of rockets by the U.S. and Israel into Iran – on unstable trade partnerships and the previous presidential administration.

“For decades, American farmers were forced to rely on unstable foreign suppliers for one of the most important inputs needed to feed our nation. Today we are announcing a plan to end this consolidation and bring competition back to the American fertilizer industry,” Rollins stated. “The previous administration chose to prioritize their radical climate agenda when searching for fertilizer projects, and as result let this problem exacerbate by not getting shovels in the ground and only building six percent of their stated goal. The Trump administration’s FIELDS program is solely focused on producing fertilizer leading to lower costs for American farmers and consumers, as well as restoring a critical supply chain for our country. Farm security is national security.”

The announcement came, ironically, as prices for most fertilizers had stabilized or fallen.

“We’re seeing some major downward shifts in key agricultural inputs. The most notable change is a sharp decline in urea prices, which dropped by $106.25 per ton (a 12.4 percent drop). Anhydrous ammonia also saw a helpful decrease, falling $76.00 per ton (-6.7 percent),” reported the University of Illinois farmdoc team in their Illinois Fuel and Fertilizer Cost Report for June 26, 2026 (the full report can be accessed at https://mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov/viewReport/3195).

Phosphate fertilizers (DAP and MAP) saw slight increases of +1.1 percent and +1.8 percent, respectively, according to the report, which noted that fuel prices were providing additional relief with both No. 2 diesel and biodiesel dropping by over 13 percent compared to the previous reporting period. The drop in fuel prices may be credited to announcements by both Saudi Arabia and Russia that the nations plan to increase crude oil production in the coming months to help bring down the cost of gasoline. This is according to ABC News and other major news outlets that reported that both nations will increase their targeted output by 62,000 barrels of oil per day, building upon previous incremental increases to help stabilize energy markets following the recent conflict and market volatility in the Middle East.

The purported agreement between the two nations to increase oil production occurred at a recent energy summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Following the summit, Reuters reported that five other OPEC+ countries would also likely agree to a further hike in their output target for July.

A study of prices for eight farm fertilizers compared to one year ago by Progressive Farmer showed that while prices have fallen since the first of June, they remained higher than last summer as of June 17, 2026. “All eight fertilizers are now higher in price compared to one year earlier: Potash (by 4 percent), 10-34-0 (8 percent), DAP (13 percent), both MAP and UAN32 (15 percent), urea (16 percent), UAN32 (27 percent) and anhydrous (41 percent),” the ag news source reported.

On June 30, President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending phosphate duties. That move could cut fertilizer prices by about 22 percent, saving U.S. farmers an estimated $1.82 billion annually across 97 million planted acres, according to Rollins.

Josh Linville, vice president of fertilizer at StoneX Group, said the impact on fertilizer prices by the suspension of phosphate duties is far from certain, however. In an interview with Tyne Morgan at AgWeb, he questioned why the administration waited until now to suspend the duties.

“If (Trump) had this capacity, why is he waiting until today to do it?” Linville said, adding that phosphate prices were substantially higher during last summer and ahead of the 2026 spring planting season.