Organic fertilizers offer relief to Utah farmers strained by Iran war

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has strained supply chains that most Utah farmers depend on for fuel and fertilizer. But some unconventional operations have avoided inflated costs by sourcing critical materials locally.
 
Justin Clawson is an Extension assistant professor in Cache County who has seen firsthand the strain that geopolitical forces exert on Utah farmers.  
 
“I know a lot of them are worried about fertilizer costs,” he said.  
 
Most farmers depend on synthetic fertilizers to replenish soil nutrients, but Clawson said they normally don’t store them over multiple seasons. 
 
“Most facilities around here will not even bring it in until they're just ready because they just don't have the storage capacity," he explained. "So that means you're playing paying the up-to-date price. So, a lot of them are switching.” 
 
One farmer who has pivoted to avoid dependency on imported fertilizers is Mike Porter. He is the owner and operator of Mericana Farms in Cache Valley.   
 
“Fertilizer costs and availability, those are a major pinch point, but they don't affect me as much because we don't use commercial fertilizers,” Porter said.  
 
Porter mostly replenishes soil nutrients on his farm with locally sourced animal manure and cover crops.  
 
"We have a contract with Oakdale farms, the chicken farm in Lewiston," Porter said, "and there's one right here on my farm in Franklin. We've been able to work a deal out with them so that we buy all of their manure and then distribute it to other farmers.” 
 
Clawson said that while this strategy seems novel, it was traditionally the norm for diversified farms in the region to incorporate the waste from their animals as fertilizer. 
 
“If you look at our agriculture, even back 100 years ago," he said, "you had beef cattle, beef on there. You had pigs, chickens, dairy. It was self-sustaining. Everything was on the farm.” 
 
The chicken manure Porter uses as fertilizer is a great source of nitrogen, which is the fertilizer component most strained by the conflict with Iran.  
 
"It works excellent on hay. It works excellent on corn, it works excellent on wheat," Porter said. "So, with all of that, I haven't, fortunately, been pinched by the high fertilizer prices, and it hasn't affected what I have to pay for the chicken manure.”  
 
Other farmers have been reaching out to Porter as the war squeezes their profit margins.  
 
“We've had a lot of farmers reach out this year, more than normal, just because of the high cost of fertilizer," he said. "Our prices haven't changed, so they look at that as a very viable option that may not have been as good of an option before fertilizer doubled.” 
 
By switching to locally sourced manure rather than imported synthetic fertilizer, Porter has attained organic certification on thousands of acres of his farmland. This means that in addition to being buffered from high fertilizer prices, he can charge a premium for his farm products.  
 
“I don't get the yields that the guys that farm conventionally necessarily get," he said. "But if it's worth three times as much money for the end product, then I feel like for our operation, it's a lot better in the long run.” 
 
For Porter, relying on organic inputs rather than imported fertilizers is an example of how farming must adapt to changing circumstances. 
 
“I think that farming is the backbone of our community, and we've got to figure out a way to make it work," he said. "And if what you're currently doing isn't working, then figure something else out, because there's a lot of ways to make it work and make it profitable.”