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War with Iran disrupts fertilizer exports as U.S. farmers prepare for planting season
Matt Ubel, standing on his farm near Wheaton, Kansas, motions to the fertilizer spreader he’ll use to spread urea fertilizer this spring.
Frank Morris
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Frank Morris
Spring planting season is starting across the northern hemisphere. But before seeds go into the ground, nutrients go into the soil. Typically nitrogen fertilizer.
“Right now, we’re kind of … we’ll be in the thick of it,” farmer Matt Ubel said from the cab of his huge green fertilizer spreader near Wheaton, Kansas. “Lot of nitrogen gets put on in the spring.”
The high cost of fertilizer and other farming necessities pushed many row crop farmers into the red last year. Ubel says some were holding out for lower prices this spring, only to see the price of the most common nitrogen fertilizer, urea, spike close to 30% when Iran shut down shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, halting close to half the world’s fertilizer trade.
“This probably threw some guys for a loop,” said Ubel.
The Persian Gulf, nitrogen fertilizer hub of the world
Farmers in rural Kansas, and across the world, are feeling the unexpected consequences of the war in the Persian Gulf because closing the Strait of Hormuz has bottled up almost 50% of the world’s urea exports.
Every plant needs nitrogen to grow. The best source of nitrogen is natural gas, and the Gulf states are sitting on the world’s largest gas reserve.
“If you had sat us down before and said, ‘Hey, I want you to think of the nightmare scenario for fertilizer. What would it be?’ It would be this exact event during this exact time of year,” said Josh Linville, who oversees the global fertilizer department at the brokerage firm StoneX.
Linville says urea that had been expected to arrive in the United States next month, in the peak of planting season, won’t come.
The Fertilizer Institute predicts that U.S. farmers will be short some 2,000,000 tons of urea this spring.
The United States is currently the world’s top natural gas producer, which supports a robust domestic fertilizer industry. Still, U.S. companies import about 18% of the nitrogen fertilizer sold in this country, drawing heavily on imports to cover the spring planting surge.
Other countries are much more dependent on petrochemical imports. Liquefied Natural Gas imports from the Persian Gulf fuel urea production in some of the top-producing countries. Or it did.
“Countries like India, the second biggest urea producer in the world, their production rates are starting to fall. Pakistan, China, all of these major producing countries are struggling to get these gas supplies,” says Linville. “And all of a sudden, they’re having to say, well, we’ve only got so much. We need to lower our fertilizer production to put into some of these other industries.”
And natural gas isn’t the only problem. About half the world’s sulfur exports were shipped out of the Strait of Hormuz.
For instance, sulfur is an important plant nutrient on its own, but it’s also a critical ingredient in phosphate fertilizer.
“We do produce a lot of phosphate fertilizers here in the U.S., but if we can’t get sulfur, we can’t produce phosphate fertilizers,” said Veronica Nigh, chief economist at the Fertilizer Institute. “And so, it’s kind of a twofer there.”
No easy answers
Federal lawmakers are trying to help.. Bipartisan Senate legislation aims to lower fertilizer costs by requiring more transparent pricing.
The Trump Administration is lifting barriers to fertilizer imports from Venezuela and Morocco.
“They’re trying to pull a number of levers,” said Nigh. “I think that it’s the acknowledgement that there aren’t a lot of easy answers to this problem.”
There’s very little slack in the fertilizer supply chain. The product doesn’t store well, some of it is prone to blowing up, some if it gets clumpy and hard to use with the slightest moisture. According to Nigh, fertilizer plants tend to operate at capacity and take years to construct. Iran was a top urea producer and exporter before the war. It’s unclear when or if that capacity will come back online.
The gas fields in Iran and Qatar are the world’s largest natural gas reserves. They supplied fertilizer production in India, normally the world’s second-largest nitrogen fertilizer producer. But, those fields have been severely damaged in the war.
Even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, it will likely take months to straighten out the fertilizer supply chain.
“How long does it take until we get back to normal? It could be a while,” Nigh said.
Meantime, American farmers may have to make hard choices at planting time. Corn, for instance, needs a lot of nitrogen to thrive. Soybeans need less, so U.S. farmers may grow less corn and more soybeans. Farmers who can’t source fertilizer may even skip a year.
“Think watermelons and cantaloupe and things along those lines in Texas, those don’t get planted,” said Nigh, “Or pumpkins in Indiana.”
On the one hand, less fertilizer use could be good for the environment. Fertilizer runoff pollutes water sources and fuels toxic algae blooms.
But the fertilizer shock triggered by the attack on Iran will invariably mean that people around the world have less to eat. And that could be an acute problem in vulnerable countries, especially those dependent on Persian Gulf oil for fertilizer.
“What our product is used for, is food, is the production of food,” Nigh said. “So the consequences aren’t going to be immediate, but they could be substantial.
WASHINGTON (7News) — The thousands of people attending the Great American State Fair and other areas around the National Mall are being ordered to evacuate as stormy weather approaches.
The National Weather Service previously announced a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in the District. Officials are asking attendees to seek shelter.
SEE ALSO: Historic Fourth of July fireworks to light up National Mall: How to watch live
The DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management released a list of places where the crowds can go to get out of the weather:
Federal Buildings:
- Ronald Reagan Building – 100 Pennsylvania Ave NW
- Dept. of Commerce – 1401 Constitution Ave NW
- Dept. of Agriculture – 1400 Independence Dr SW
- Dept. of Education – 400 Maryland Ave SW
- Internal Revenue Service – 1111 Constitution Ave NW
- Voice of America – 330 Independence Ave SW
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial – 16 E Basin Dr SW
Museums:
- National Museum of American History – 1300 Constitution Ave NW
- National Museum of Natural History – 1000 Constitution Ave NW
- National Museum of African American History and Culture – 1400 Constitution Ave NW
Freedom 250 organizers released this statement:
“The safety of our guests, performers, and staff is our top priority. Due to approaching severe storms, Freedom 250, United States Secret Service, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and all public safety partners are asking all guests to evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building. Available shelter locations include the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Internal Revenue Service, VOA Building, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, the African American Museum, and the Ronald Reagan Building. Please remain calm, follow the directions of law enforcement and event staff, and stay tuned to Freedom 250’s official channels for updates. Freedom 250 will share updates on programming and doors reopening — please stay close to our official channels for updates.”
The Secret Service said they have suspended screening on the National Mall.
“Security screening on the National Mall has been suspended due to dangerous storms,” the Secret Service said. “If you are already on the grounds, follow directions from officers and event staff and move to shelter immediately. Do not shelter under trees.”
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Metro riders are also asked to seek shelter. Commuters should expect heavy crowds at stations near the National Mall and are asked to consider using L’Enfant Plaza, Metro Center, Archives, Federal Triangle or Federal Center SW stations to avoid congestion.
The nation’s capital may be the focal point of the 250th Independence Day celebration, but people all across America have plans to mark the occasion, from boisterous public parades to quiet personal reflections on history.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
As the United States turns 250 years old, Americans across the country are spending the holiday thinking about what the big birthday means to them, with reflections and celebrations as diverse as the nation itself.
NPR’s member station reporters fanned out to collect snapshots of the occasion from sea to shining sea.
In one ‘City of Presidents,’ Main Street is decorated for a party
At least two cities in the U.S.call themselves the “City of Presidents” and Cuba City, in Wisconsin, is one of them, largely due to its patriotic Main Street decorations. Every year from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day, red, white, and blue shields, one for each U.S. president, are prominently displayed high up on the light poles lining Main Street.
It’s a tradition that began in 1976 to commemorate the country’s bicentennial, says Donna Rogers, who is president of the ongoing project but admitted that when it first started, she wasn’t particularly tuned-in to the display.
“I was raising three little boys and working at John Deere, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to community service at that time,” she said.
Donna Rogers shows off one of Cuba City’s presidential lampposts.
Susan Bence/WUWM
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Susan Bence/WUWM
A few years later, she was tapped to help keep the initiative alive.
When she thinks of the country’s history, she says the signing of the Declaration of Independence and abolition of slavery top her list, plus a current event–
“Of course, now, our nation’s 250th birthday. I think those three would be the three most important things in history to me,” she said, quickly adding “[the] right for women to vote, don’t forget that, right?”
Rogers and Cuba City are pulling out all the stops for the 250th, with a parade and a mac-and-cheese festival, because “that was some of our founding fathers favorite foods, along with turkey and cranberries and other items.”
She laughed and admitted she googled that. True or not, Rogers says they’ll go all-out to celebrate the 250th in her “City of Presidents”.
WUWM’s Susan Bence reported from Cuba City, Wisconsin.
In Georgia, a civics competition inspires hope for future generations
At the Georgia state finals of the National Civics Bee, middle school students were peppered with questions about the U.S. government.
Like this one: why is a single energetic executive desirable?
The answer: it promotes accountability and decisive leadership.
9th grader Ella Hummel got it right.
“I’ve always kind of had the idea of serving in politics,” she said after the competition. “And I really think that civics has opened my mind.”
Ella will advance to the civics bee finals later this fall, with her grandmother, Peggy Farmer, cheering her on. Farmer remembers the excitement around the bicentennial in 1976, but said she feels a different energy around this year’s anniversary.
“It’s a togetherness type of thing that’s really not around all the time now,” she mused. “I think it’s just the world’s changed a lot.”
But there is something Farmer will celebrate about America on this Independence Day: her grandkid, the Georgia Civics Bee Champion.
“Maybe she and the kids that was sitting up there, they can change [the country] a little bit. I mean, they seem to be having a ball with each other up there today, so that’s a good thing.”
GPB’s Sofi Gratas reported from Atlanta.
In Texas, appreciating the process of patriotism
Rodney Ellis, who has served 43 years in public office, is guardedly optimistic that America will stay on a path towards progress.
John Burnett
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John Burnett
Rodney Ellis will celebrate at picnics around his precinct in Houston with barbecue pork ribs and ice tea, and a heaping helping of worry about the nation’s future. The tall, garrulous 72-year-old county commissioner is guardedly patriotic.
“We should be celebrating that America is a process,” he said. “Patriotism is telling the truth, and doin’ the work to repair the harms that have come about over these 250 years.”
The son of a maid and a landscaper, Ellis has served 43 years in public office, first as a Houston city councilman, then state senator, and now as a Harris County commissioner.
Fifty years ago, during the bicentennial, Ellis was a public affairs graduate student at the University of Texas in Austin. In 1976, there were 18 Black representatives in Congress; today there are 67.
“We’ve made tremendous progress since then, tremendous gains,” he said. “And so when I compare what was happening then to what’s happening now, I look at how quickly a lot of those fundamental rights, those gains that we’ve taken for granted have rolled back so quickly.”
He ticked off areas where he believes America has lost ground: clean air and clean water, people of color in key positions in government, owning up to uncomfortable U.S. history, and selfless public service.
But, said the commissioner with a broad grin, that’s how it’s always been in America.
“Progress is made but along the way sometimes you take two steps forward and 10 steps back, but you don’t give up.”
John Burnett reported from Houston, TX.
In Milwaukee, Fourth of July tacos with a big helping of pride
Gissell Vera is proud to be both American and Mexican. She plans to celebrate both of her cultures with a Fourth of July carne asada cookout.
Maayan Silver/WUWM
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Maayan Silver/WUWM
Gissell Vera ordered carne asada tacos on her favorite patio in Milwaukee, a vibrant spot punctuated with strings of international flags and a steady cumbia drumbeat.
“The music, the colors, the language, all of it is part of me and I am a proud American,” she said.
Vera is a U.S. citizen from a mixed status family; her parents emigrated from Veracruz, Mexico.
“My family has particularly always been grateful for this country and the opportunities that it’s provided us,” said the 25 year-old. “Although there is always the fear and uncertainty of what immigration reform could, how it could impact us, we choose to live every day without fear.”
Vera said there’s a phrase she’s heard many immigrants use to describe their relationship to the United States, “ni de aquí ni de allá,”, meaning ‘neither from here or there.’
“It’s almost like a limbo in which we existed,” she explained. “And I think that now I’m very proud to say that I am ‘de aquí’ and ‘de allá’. So I am proud to be from here and from there.”
She said she’ll join her family for a cookout to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, but instead of hot dogs, they’ll be grilling carne asada.
WUWM’s Maayan Silver reported from Milwaukee.
In the Mountain West, a closer look at a national myth
As America turned 250 this year, historian Megan Kate Nelson used the occasion to take a closer look at a foundational myth of the country’s history and ask, “what stories do we carry forward?”
Her new book ‘The Westerners’ profiled pioneers who, according to Nelson, don’t fit “the narrative of white Easterners moving westward in covered wagons with a nuclear family in tow, engaging with a series of challenges.”
A statue of Sacagawea along the banks of the Missouri River in Great Falls, Mont. Sacajawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied Lewis and Clark as an interpreter and guide. Her role in the expedition is reexamined in Megan Kate Nelson’s book.
Matt Volz/AP
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Matt Volz/AP
That includes historical figures like Polly Bemis, who was trafficked from China to the Idaho frontier, and María Gertrudis Barceló, a Santa Fe saloon owner and professional gambler.
Even the well-known figure, Sacagawea, gets another look.
“I read through the Lewis and Clark journals. They mention her more than 150 times, and she is always doing something or saying something,” said Nelson. “My favorite part: when they arrive on the western coast, they set up camp a couple miles away from the ocean, and she yells at William Clark. ‘You are going to take me to go see the ocean! I did not travel all this way not to see the ocean!’”
Nelson said it’s more important than ever to elevate a fuller picture of westward expansion, and to challenge the frontier myth that “there’s only one white pioneer; there’s only one kind of story of American greatness.”
Ryan Warner reported from Crested Butte, Colorado.
In Rhode Island, the parade is nearly as old as the nation itself
Every Independence Day, the yellow stripes dividing Hope Street get a patriotic makeover.
David Wright/Ocean State Media
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David Wright/Ocean State Media
The town of Bristol, Rhode Island, lays claim to the nation’s oldest Independence Day celebration. This year, they will celebrate America’s 250th with their 241st birthday bash for the country, an effort that brought together over 100 volunteers as part of the Fourth of July committee.
Plans include a parade with at least 34 floats, a golf tournament, a “Miss Fourth of July” beauty pageant, and a gala ball.
Even the double yellow line down Hope Street got its annual red, white and blue makeover for the parade.
For the past decade, Heidi Vermilyea has been in charge of the parade souvenirs, selling hats, t-shirts, and Christmas tree ornaments out of a blue trailer.
“I think I’ve missed the parade once when I was in Europe for the Fourth of July,” Vermilyea admits. “But otherwise, I have been either watching the parade or working the parade my whole life.”
Even when she’s not working the events, she’s decked out in stars-and-stripes, all the way down to her patriotic pedicure.
Heidi Vermilyea runs the souvenir truck for Bristol’s parade every July 4th. But her American flag outfits are year-round display of her patriotism.
David Wright/Ocean State Media
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David Wright/Ocean State Media
“Politics you can be left, right, moderate, whatever,” Vermilyea explains. “Patriotism is just loving your community. Helping out to make your community, your country a better place.”
The way she sees it, she’s flying the flag for Bristol, her family and friends.
This story was reported by Ocean State Media’s David Wright.
In Oregon, grappling with a complicated history
Some of Mitchell S. Jackson’s fondest childhood memories are of the Fourth of July.
“My mother would always buy me an outfit that had a red, white, and blue color scheme,” Jackson, who is now 50 years old, remembered. “And it was joyous, you know, to don those colors.”
But as the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer grew up, he learned more about America’s history of slavery and racism. Jackson said that made his relationship to his country more complicated, especially after he was convicted on drug and weapons charges as a 21-year-old and imprisoned for over a year.
“I lost my right to vote before I ever voted, before it ever dawned on me that my suffrage was important,” remembers Jackson. “And I would say that that is an American project, that a young Black boy loses his right to vote.”
Jackson said these inequalities, both historical and modern, call into question the very anniversary we’re celebrating.
“When I hear 250, I know that that’s a false number, right?”
Mitchell S. Jackson at the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington. For Jackson, the 250th is not a true celebration of American freedom, since so many people were enslaved at the time.
Erwin JT Trollinger
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Erwin JT Trollinger
Jackson said that to him, true freedom in America only goes back 160 years, to when the 14th amendment granted everyone equal protection under the law. Or even just 62 years to the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed segregation.
“If you love something, you’re also critical of it,” he pointed out. “You don’t just love it blindly, or I hope you don’t just love it blindly. So if you truly love America, then you gotta tell the truth about America.”
Jackson says there are ways for Black Americans to make the Fourth of July, and America itself, their own. But it’s a group project to understand who we are, and who we’ve been, and who we can become.
Deena Prichep reported from Portland, Oregon.
News
Family-owned company prepares to put on the largest fireworks display in history: “It is the biggest show that we’ve ever done”
Washington — There are fireworks, and then there’s what’s in store for Saturday in Washington, D.C.
When the sun goes down on Independence Day, the skies of Washington are expected to fill with a record-setting 850,000 individual fireworks for a 40-minute spectacle like no one has seen before.
A company called Pyrotecnico will attempt the biggest fireworks show in history, using five generations of family know-how and a background in Super Bowls and large musical acts to help America celebrate its 250th birthday with a bang.
“I mean, it is the biggest show that we’ve done,” Rocco Vitale, president of Pyrotecnico, told CBS News. “…My earliest memories of fireworks displays and doing the Fourth of July was here.”
Pyrotecnico has been planning this year’s show since January, using computers to simulate the display. But now it’s time for the real thing.
Vitale gave CBS News an exclusive look at his not-so-secret weapons: eight barges out on the Potomac River, each one ready to light up the night sky.
“Each firing location has a communication device, and its all set on GPS. And once the time of the show is put into the system, it goes at that time,” Vitale explained.
According to Freedom 250, the organizer of the “Salute to America 250 Celebration & Fireworks” on the National Mall, President Trump will deliver remarks at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time, and the fireworks display will get underway at 10:45 p.m. The event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people.
Join CBS for “The Great American Block Party 250,” a primetime special on Saturday, July 4, hosted by CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, featuring live musical performances, celebrations around the country, and the largest fireworks show in history in the skies over the nation’s capital. Tune in July 4 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and stream it on Paramount+ and CBS News 24/7.
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