TEXAS — The farming equipment that litters Michael Moon’s land, which sits about an hour northeast of Austin in Holland, has been acquired through generations of family farming.
“My mother’s mother had a dairy in the ’50s over in a town close to here,” Moon said. “My dad’s family, they were sharecroppers.”
Moon diversified the family business by selling various crops and running a cow-calf operation.
With the war against Iran creating conflict over control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital trade passageway, farmers are dealing with increased costs of fertilizer and fuel.
“You have to really love what you’re doing to go through the hard times we do. Especially now with the fertilizer and fuel prices the way they are,” said Moon.
Since the war started, the cost of fertilizer increased by nearly 30%, and the cost of diesel fuel rose nearly 50%. Nearly every vehicle Moon owns uses diesel.
One of Moon’s trucks has two fuel tanks that hold 150 gallons each. The cost of diesel has increased from $3.30 to $6 a gallon, making a full tank of gas cost $1,800. When this truck has to take multiple trips to haul fertilizer, the cost of doing business can add up quickly.
“When it comes to to agriculture, we’re basically price takers,” said Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. “We don’t set our price for our commodities.”
To try and ease the cost of living for farmers, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller asked Gov. Greg Abbott to suspend the state’s motor fuels tax. Miller said, “Our producers are entering critical growing seasons, and families are struggling to make ends meet. Texans don’t need excuses. They need relief.”
“I don’t know that it will necessarily force farmers to plant less, but it could surely force them to use less fertilizer,” said Boening.
Using less fertilizer could reduce the costs for farmers but could also cause a smaller and less nutritious yield. Moon thinks the prices of fertilizer and gas caused by the war have reached an unfair level.
“People are price gouging now because they knew we were fixing to put fertilizer out. They had everything we needed to go to work here before the war ever started. So then the war comes on. Well, there’s going to be fuel shortages and everything. So they automatically start bringing the price up,” said Moon.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue, saying on Truth Social that “the United States will not accept PRICE GOUGING from the fertilizer monopoly!”
But as the war wages, farmers are paying the cost.
“It’s awful hard sometimes to put money out there that you know you’re not going to get back. And it makes you think, well, I’m giving it away. Well, yeah, but you’re feeding someone. And so that’s the way we look at it,” said Moon.
The Trump administration has suggested using tariffs to subsidize fertilizer costs for farmers, but relief could take time.