(Radio Iowa/Brownfield Ag News) – An eastern Iowa farmer who’s a past president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association says the price spike in fertilizer is out of control. Lance Lillibridge raises cattle, corn, soybeans and alfalfa in Benton County, near Vinton.  “Jacking up prices of fertilizer 77% on product that’s actually in the states right now and in warehouses because of something that’s happened half a world away, that’s not right,” Lillibridge said. “Somebody needs to get he cuffs slapped on them for that one.”

Lillibridge ordered his fertilizer supply before the war in Iran broke out, but about 25 percent of farmers have not. “We’ve had a problem with fertilizer prices for quite some time now and it hasn’t been dealt with and now that we have a situation, a geopolitical situation it has completely amplified that and it has gone completely out of control,” Lillibridge. “Eventually it is going to hurt everyone down the road if we don’t get this fixed quickly.”

On Friday the U-S Secretary of Agriculture said the White House is looking at every potential avenue to lower fertilizer prices and she’s talking with congress about additional funds for U.S. farmers. According to the American Farm Bureau, 49 percent of the global supply of nitrogen and 30 percent of ammonia comes from the Persian Gulf.