Family farmer Darryn Shrosbree says the war is impacting diesel prices and nutrients used in fertilizer. <\/p>\n
Farmers around the world are feeling the squeeze of the Iran war. Gas prices have shot up and fertilizer supplies are waning due to Tehran\u2019s near shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli bombing.<\/p>\n
Iran is seriously limiting shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage that usually handles about a fifth of the world\u2019s oil shipments and nearly a third of global fertilizer trade.<\/p>\n
Canadian farmers are also bracing for higher costs and warning consumers could soon feel the impact at the checkout line.<\/p>\n
In an interview with CTV News Channel, family farmer, advocate and 33SEVEN founder Derryn Shrosbree said rising input costs are already affecting producers, with diesel emerging as the most immediate concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers use a ton of diesel and obviously lots and lots of fertilizer as inputs,\u201d Shrosbree said. \u201cSo currently what we\u2019re seeing is, you know, there\u2019s a lot of inputs that have increased in price, so dry nitrogen, urea, and other phosphates and sulfur and other chemicals that we need for farming.\u201d<\/p>\n
While fertilizer costs tend to have a longer-term effect on food prices, Shrosbree said the spike in diesel prices could have a more immediate and significant impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going to absolutely spike the price of food is diesel,\u201d he said. \u201cSo diesel has doubled this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
That increase affects the entire supply chain, from production to transportation, he added.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774817351_742_BJNIQZELJPCDDQYORL4JWZVEJQ.jpg\")
Fuel prices are displayed as a person fills up their car with gas at a station in Montreal on Thursday, March 5, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov Fuel prices are displayed as a person fills up their car with gas at a station in Montreal on Thursday, March 5, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christopher Katsarov \u2018Expect extremely high grocery prices by September\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIf diesel prices stay high, expect your grocery bill to go up by 25 to 50 per cent,\u201d Shrosbree said. \u201cSo that is going to be a very, very tricky situation for a lot of Canadians to, you know, actually feed their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
While many farmers have enough fuel and fertilizer stockpiled to get crops planted this season, he said the real challenge will come later in the year during harvest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this continues for harvest, harvest is going to be very bad because combine harvesters use a lot of diesel, and if diesel is double the price, we are going to get absolutely wrecked,\u201d Shrosbree said.<\/p>\n
He added that those higher costs will ultimately be passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t get relief from the government or any sort of help there, expect extremely high grocery prices by September,\u201d he said. \u201cSo by Labour Day, you know, if, if the shenanigans continue, we are going to be in a tricky situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Untitled-1.21175124 A worker plants crops in a field at an Ontario farm. Pressure is already being felt on farms<\/p>\n
Shrosbree, who grows mushrooms and vegetables in southwestern Ontario and delivers to restaurants in Toronto, said his own transportation costs have surged.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy diesel bill for my truck is doubled,\u201d he said. \u201cSo where does that cost go?\u201d<\/p>\n
He said farmers have limited ability to pass those increases on to buyers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t push my price onto my customer, because they\u2019re at the maximum that people will pay for their dinners in the restaurants,\u201d he said. \u201cSo what gives?\u201d<\/p>\n
Without further support, he warned, the situation could worsen quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf diesel prices don\u2019t come down within 3 months, I think there\u2019s going to be some tricky conversations ahead of us,\u201d Shrosbree said.<\/p>\n
The federal government has taken some steps to provide relief, including increasing limits on farm support programs, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully they have increased the limit on the input program up to 500,000 for some relief,\u201d Shrosbree said.<\/p>\n
However, he suggested more immediate action, particularly on fuel costs, could make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they could maybe help at the pump, that would be great, because obviously there\u2019s a gas tax, which is extremely high,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they could lower the gas tax, that would not only help the truckers and all those good folks, but the farmers would be directly impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n
With files from the Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Family farmer Darryn Shrosbree says the war is impacting diesel prices and nutrients used in fertilizer. Farmers around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[712,45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-569351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}