Standing Up to Fertilizer

Apr 01, 2026

The Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) continues to prioritize creating profitability for corn farmers. Within the last couple of years, ICGA has pressured the fertilizer industry to address rising corn fertilizer costs for our farmers. We will continue that push until solutions are found.

Over four years ago, Iowa Corn was already raising concerns. In December 2021, ICGA signed onto a letter to Mosaic asking them to withdraw their request for protective tariffs on phosphate coming into the U.S. That same month, ICGA put together a letter to then Attorney General Tom Miller to look into fertilizer pricing matters.

Iowa Corn knew there would not be a quick or simple solution, and the ICGA Board made corn fertilizer cost a top priority for our organization. The Iowa Corn government relations team has worked on this issue continuously since.

SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON HIGH CORN FERTILIZER COSTS

In the summer of 2022, ICGA continued meeting with our Congressional members to discuss the concerns around fertilizer prices.

ICGA farmer leaders hosted a roundtable with Senator Joni Ernst’s team to hear farmers’ concerns about historically high corn fertilizer costs per acre and the strain it puts on farm budgets. Other attendees at the roundtable included area farmers, government officials, state legislators and industry representatives.

ICGA leaders shared the impact high input prices have on farmers’ operating costs and possible solutions. Shortly after, Iowa Corn worked with Congressman Randy Feenstra and provided input for him to testify in front of the International Trade Commission (ITC), encouraging them to reduce tariffs on fertilizer imports.

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.