[Just The News] Americans are feeling the impact of the conflict in Iran when they fill up their vehicles, but they’re likely to see it on their grocery bill as well in the coming months. Yes, armed conflict has a way of changing things in global markets.
The region is also one of the largest suppliers of nitrogen fertilizer, which is critical to modern farming. As American farmers are starting the growing season, they’re being faced with large increases in the cost of farming. As a result, the nation’s food supply could be impacted by farmers reducing acreage or producing lower yields.
Traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a thin waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea through which 20% of the world’s petroleum is exported, has been reduced to a trickle as a result of the conflict.
"There were a lot of farmers taking losses on crops last year, probably this year again. So it's something that needs to be addressed at probably all levels," Arthur Erickson, CEO of agriculture drone manufacturer Hylio, told Just the News.
NATURAL GAS CONVERTED TO PLANT FERTILIZER
Nitrogen fertilizer starts out as natural gas, and through the Haber-Bosch process, the gas is converted into ammonia. The ammonia is then made into urea and other nitrogen products. Writing in Forbes, Robert Rapier, a chemical engineer, said that "nitrogen fertilizer is natural gas transformed into plant food."
Approximately half the global food production depends on synthetic fertilizers, and without it, yields will sharply decline. Countries that are impacted by the trade disruptions in the region around the Strait of Hormuz produce nearly half of the global exports of urea and 30% of the global exports of ammonia.