DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) — President Donald Trump said this week his new deal with Iran will open a market for American farmers, but Iranian officials said today it won’t happen.
Iowa Farmers Union President Aaron Lehman said the potential relief may be coming too late for many farmers facing low prices, high costs and uncertainty about whether a new market would materialize.
Lehman said shifting news about the deal has made it difficult for farmers to plan.
“It’s promising news one day and then there’s news the next day that tells us well that wasn’t really what was happening in the first place,” Lehman said.
Farmers in Iowa have scrambled to adapt after fertilizer prices and gasoline skyrocketed at a critical time of the season.
Trump said Tuesday that farmers should get help soon if Iran agrees to the new deal. According to the President, the deal would unfreeze Iranian assets controlled by the U.S. and use them to buy American crops.
Trump said the unfrozen money would be used to buy food “exclusively through the United States” from American farmers, including corn and soybeans.
Lehman said the plan is arriving after some farmers already made changes based on fertilizer availability and cost, including switching to crops with different fertilizer needs.
“Some farmers because of the fertilizer situation did switch to a different crop that had different fertilizer needs,” Lehman said. “And that happens and oftentimes it’s not the best decision for your long-term rotation, but short-term if you have to make that sacrifice just to get through.”
Warren reported that in four months, when Iowa farmers begin harvesting corn and soybeans, they will learn the financial hit they took and that is when they need to make their plan for next year.
Lehman said farmers need predictability to make planting decisions and target prices.
“The farmers need to be able to have some certainty to plan what they’re going to plant,” Lehman said. “That predictability has just been shot.”
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Isabella Warren covers state government and politics for Gray Media-owned stations in Iowa. Email her at isabella.warren@kcrg.com; and follow her on Facebook at Isabella Warren TV on X/Twitter@isabellaw_gray, and on Instagram@IsabellaWarrenTV.
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