War Hangs Over American Farmers as Fertilizer Prices Rise NYT - Top Stories By: Kevin Draper 16 June 2026 at 16:16 The Iran war and lower crop prices have hurt makers of sulfur-based supplements. But farmers won’t skip nitrogen-based fertilizers, no matter the cost. © Tim Gruber for The New York TimesFarmers of big row crops like corn consider the use of nitrogen fertilizer to be nonnegotiable.