A significant amount of commercial fertilizer is created through the use of natural gas. But the price of natural gas is unlikely to come down any time soon, because most of the electric generating capacity built over the last decade or so is fueled by natural gas. The shortage of natural gas will keep prices high for some time to come. High natural gas prices will keep fertilizer prices high as well. High fertilizer prices will impact both the home gardener, and clearly, the large farm operation.
Corn is a greedy crop, and is the largest farm product exported from America.
Corn finds its way into many products you're likely to find in supermarkets. Corn sweetener can be found on virtually all pastries, in breakfast cereals, as a sweetener in soda, as corn meal in dog food, and more. The high price of fertilizer will thus spill over into products that may at first blush appear unconnected to the farm scene. The high price of corn will also slow its export, limiting farm income, thus could lead to the kind of farm foreclosures we saw during the Carter Administration. This is likely to be an area of vigorous political and legislative activity for the new Washington administration over the next year or so.