Alexis Maxwell on How Rising Fertilizer Costs Drive Food Inflation

The Strait of Hormuz’s closure has driven up prices for fertilizer and diesel, two inputs essential for agricultural production. Considering how farmers pre-buy fertilizer and crops take months to grow, the higher costs may not be fully passed on to consumers until the spring of 2027. Agricultural production will be a bellwether as the Fed waits to see the second-order effects of higher oil prices on broader consumer inflation. In this episode, we talk with Alexis Maxwell, Senior Analyst for Fertilizer with Bloomberg Intelligence, about how the war in Iran is increasing costs for agricultural production, farmers’ alternatives to conventional fertilizer, and the energy shock’s delayed impact on consumer food prices.