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A fertilizer spreader is loaded with granular blend fertilizer near Clinton, Mo. (Clayton Steward/Bloomberg)

The Trump administration is seeking information from farmers to help with an ongoing Justice Department probe into high costs for fertilizer, machinery and other farm inputs.

Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden said he has met with officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to discuss lines of inquiry, and knows that “farmers have a lot of information that might be relevant to these investigations.” The Department of Justice is investigating whether fertilizer producers colluded to raise prices, Bloomberg reported in��early March.

“We need farmers to help provide us with that information on a confidential basis, so that that can help inform the investigations that are ongoing,” Vaden said at the North American Agricultural Journalists’ annual conference in Washington on April 13. “I think we will have a mechanism in order to help encourage that exchange of information.”

The fertilizer industry has faced scrutiny as only a handful of producers account for most of the U.S.’s supply of crop nutrients, and prices have never fully cooled after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 upset supplies. The administration has tried to tamp down production costs for farmers, a key voting bloc that is largely backing President Donald Trump even as his trade policies have hurt crop prices and restricted some fertilizer imports. The war in Iran has sent fertilizer prices surging even further.

Trump posted on Truth Social on April 11 that he is closely��watching��fertilizer prices, saying the U.S. “will not accept PRICE GOUGING from the fertilizer monopoly!” He also��called��on farm machinery companies to lower tractor and equipment costs at a White House event in late March.

Spot urea prices in New Orleans are up nearly 50% since the conflict began to the highest price since April 2022, according to Bloomberg Green Markets. Meanwhile, diammonium phosphate prices in the U.S. cornbelt have gained about 19%, and April 10 posted the biggest weekly jump since March 2022.

Vaden also said April 13 that fertilizer producer Mosaic Co.’s recent decision to idle two plants in Brazil “will only lead to one thing — higher prices.” The Florida-based company’s announcement came as phosphate producers have faced tighter margins due to surging costs for the sulfur required to produce fertilizer and weak farmer demand amid affordability issues.��

Mosaic has faced added pressure recently as the Commerce Department reviews duties on Moroccan and Russian phosphate that were put in place five years ago after an inquiry from the company. U.S. farm groups have called on the White House to suspend the so-called countervailing duties while also asking Mosaic and J.R. Simplot Co. to pull their support of the levies.

Both companies earlier this month filed letters to the Commerce Department expressing their continued support for duties. Mosaic said in an emailed statement on April 14 that “American farmers depend on a strong domestic fertilizer industry, which in turn depends on strong enforcement of U.S. trade laws that ensure a level playing field.”

Nutrien, which was not part of the initial case in 2021 but is also a phosphate producer, has said it is in favor of��removing��the fees.

Farmers have been asking for years whether fertilizer producers are trying to maintain “a larger share of profits than they would otherwise have if there were a true market, with multiple competitors,” Vaden said.��

“I’m genuinely sorry that it has taken a conflict in the Middle East in order to bring these questions to the forefront,” he said. “But now that they are at the forefront, I think it’s time that we all start asking questions.”

Nutrien and J.R. Simplot rank Nos. 11 and 50, respectively, on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America.