Iowa farmer argues federal policy keeps farmers hooked on fertilizer

Op-ed by Wendy Johnson, Civil Eats

In a new op-ed in Civil Eats, Iowa farmer Wendy Johnson argues that America’s fertilizer dependence is not just a farm management problem, but a policy problem.

Drawing on her family’s experience through the 1980s Farm Crisis and today’s fertilizer price shocks, Johnson says crop insurance, lending rules, and federal market incentives push farmers toward corn and soybeans, high yields, early planting, tillage, and heavy fertilizer use.

She calls for the next farm bill to change the incentive structure by rewarding soil-building practices, expanding markets for diverse local crops, supporting regional processing infrastructure, and keeping farmland in the hands of working farmers.

Her central point: if federal policy helped farmers build biological fertility instead of chasing maximum insured yields, more farms could become resilient, less chemically dependent, and less vulnerable to global fertilizer shocks.

Read more: https://civileats.com/2026/06/10/op-ed-the-next-farm-bill-can-help-farmers-kick-fertilizer/