War in Iran/US. When food inflation become a political issue

(Nathan Bomey – Axios) It’s not just oil: The Iran war is threatening to reignite food inflation — the price shock voters feel most directly — at the worst possible time for President Trump and Republicans. The Strait of Hormuz — paralyzed by Iranian threats and potentially mines — carries a third of the world’s fertilizer. For many American farmers, the spring planting season is just weeks away. The American Farm Bureau Federation warned in a letter to Trump this week that “supply chain shocks are expected to drive already record-high input prices even higher.”. Gulf states now menaced by war produce nearly 49% of the world’s urea, a critical solid nitrogen fertilizer, and about 30% of its ammonia, according to AFBF. The U.S. also gets about 97% of its potassium from foreign sources, plus 18% of its nitrogen and 13% of its phosphate. – Iran war raises food shock fears as midterms loom