Iran War Cost Spike Straining Farmers Ahead of Midterm Elections

US farmers, long one of Donald Trump’s most loyal constituencies, are increasingly worried by the Iran war as soaring fertilizer and fuel prices hammer them just as they are about to start planting crops for the year.

“Is the war going to be short term or is it going to be drug out?” asked Pam Johnson, who has a family farm with her two sons, growing corn and soybeans in northern Iowa. “The longer it goes, the harder it’s going to be on just everybody.”

Pam Johnson on her family farm in northern Iowa.

Photographer: Bryon Houlgrave/Bloomberg

Farmers are anxious about how they will pay for or even obtain fertilizer ...