Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture said prices for fertilizers and diesel fuel have already risen because the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked by Iran because it has been attacked by Israel and the United States.
He was interviewed by CBC Radio Kitchener-Waterloo.
Jeff Harrison, chairman of Grain Farmers of Ontario, told another reporter that “farmers just aren’t 100 per cent clear on how this is totally going to affect them” but prices have clearly risen. Whether there will be supply disruptions is not yet clear.
About a third of the world’s nitrogen fertilizer usually comes through the Strait of Hormuz.
While not much of that likely is destined for delivery to Canadian farmers in time for spring planting.
When global prices rise, so do Canadian prices, even for fertilizers made locally. The same is true for diesel fuel.
Farm Credit Canada estimated that fertilizer prices went up by $100 a tonne when Canada banned imports from Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
