The current supply shock is exposing a basic truth about modern farming: cheap nitrogen is not guaranteed, and the technologies that reduce a farm’s exposure to it may be entering a much more serious phase.
In agriculture, technologies often become important twice: first in PowerPoint, and later in a crisis. Nitrogen-saving agtech is now moving into the second phase. By mid-March 2026, the US was about 25 per cent short of the usual urea supplies bought for spring planting, while fertiliser prices had risen by more than 30 per cent after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted trade.
