Farmers across the country are in peak planting season, but with some pivotal means of agriculture production such as fertilizer and fuel supplies impacted by the war in Iran, experts say the immediate impacts could have ripple effects in the supply chain for months to come that could ultimately impact consumers.
The Strait of Hormuz, which President Donald Trump said Friday has reopened after being closed to commercial traffic since early March. Iranian officials on Saturday said they were moving to reassert control over the waterway, adding uncertainty to that status.
The strait is a major thoroughfare for roughly one-third of seaborne trade in fertilizer, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD). As much as two-thirds of worldwide seaborne trade in urea -- a nitrogen-rich fertilizer used for a variety of crops from corn to greens -- passes through the strait.
As a result, fuel and fertilizer prices have soared, putting a strain on American farmers amid record inflation and trade disruptions.
A coalition representing dozens of major farmer unions and agriculture organizations penned a letter to Trump last month pointing to the "perfect storm" of challenges that threaten the long-term viability of domestic food production.
Kyle Jore, a soybean farmer in northern Minnesota on the board of the Midwest Council on Agriculture, told ABC News that urea prices have gone up nearly 50% since he bought his supply, which "is going to hurt" farmers who didn't buy early this year, he said.
"I was very fortunate that I had pre-purchased," he said, saying he bought his fertilizer in early January before the disruption.
Farmers in Jore's position are likely at a "break-even point," he said, but others will likely face negative margins when planting.
The crunch experienced by soybean farmers like Jore could ultimately impact livestock farmers over the next several months.
"A lot of the crops we're growing go into feed, which then goes to feed the animals, which affects our prices of beef and pork and so forth," he said, which will have a "more delayed response."
He added "livestock numbers are still down too much" and that producers are "trying to replenish" supply.
Another factor impacting farmers costs are higher prices on crude oil.
"I didn't buy all of the diesel yet. I still have to get some more," Jore said. He said he's been "closely watching the price" to be able to run his tractors.
The current fertilizer prices could also cause some farmers to shift from planting corn to planting more soybeans, which Jore said requires less nitrogen fertilizer.
"One of the biggest impacts on the average consumer right now is through energy use. We are obviously in the food business, but a lot of our corn and soybeans go towards biofuel production," he said.
"When crude oil spiked like it did, and all of a sudden we had greater stocks on the ethanol [made from corn] -- it became cheaper to put fuel on with E15," which Jore explained is a 15% ethanol gasoline blend that he's recently received an influx of inquiries for.
"The average consumer is probably gonna first see this when they go to the gas pump, they're going to start to see effects," Jore said.
Fourth-generation farmer Ben Smith, who operates Cool Lawn Farm in Bealeton, Virginia, with his father Ken, told ABC News they "weren't prepared" for the influx of challenges associated with the Iran war and "didn't see this one coming."
All their trucks and fertilizer tractors, which Smith said use nearly 3,000 gallons per week, are fueled with diesel and the price has "increased $2 a gallon" in just six weeks.
The sharp increase left him "scrambling trying to find some additional storage tanks so that I could try to buy up as much as I could now before it continues to track up."
Brittan Green, the director of agronomy at a co-op that supplies fertilizer to Cool Lawn Farm and others in the area, told ABC News that the uncertainty around the strait impacts the global market, "no matter where it's coming from, it's affected."
As such, farmers like Smith have had to get creative and turn to cheaper fertilizer alternatives like manure that's rich in nitrogen.
"For the first time that I can remember, we're actually exporting manure to a neighboring grain farmer," he said.
Ultimately, Smith said "it's inevitable" that these supply chain and pricing issues are "unfortunately going to trickle down to the consumer," but may not translate into bigger profits for farmers.
"There's been times in the past that milk has gone up in the grocery store and it's actually trended down here on the producer side," he said.
Despite market uncertainty, Smith said he's confident he can stay afloat and maintain the legacy of his family's farm.
"I think there is no greater career choice for me than dairy farming, but there is some pressure associated with performing and keeping it going and being able to hand it off to the next generation in a better condition than when I got it," Smith said.
ABC News' Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report.
