KQED's Forum California Farmers Struggle to Weather the Agriculture Crisis
Apr 6, 2026
Stuart Woolf, third-generation Central Valley farmer and processor leader; Alexis Maxwell, Bloomberg Intelligence fertilizer and commodity analyst; Don Cameron, Terranova Ranch operations chief and state board president; Daniel Sumner, UC Davis agricultural economist. They talk about soaring diesel and fertilizer prices, labor and regulatory pressures, processing and irrigation costs, and how supply shocks and tariffs strain California agriculture.
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Diesel Price Surge Is Hitting Farm Budgets Hard
- Diesel spikes are the immediate cost shock for farms, with Don Cameron reporting an 87% price rise in six weeks that doubled a typical $18,000 fuel bill to $34,000.
- Many crop contracts were set late last year, so farmers like Terra Nova must absorb soaring fuel and input costs without passing them to buyers this season.
Strait Closure Cut Global Nitrogen Supply
- Nearly half of traded urea supply was disrupted by the Iran conflict because nitrogen fertilizer production relies on natural gas from the region.
- That global nitrogen squeeze pushed urea prices to double in weeks, threatening timely fertilizer availability.
Lock Input Strategy To Manage Price Volatility
- Plan fertilizer purchases and planting cycles well ahead because many growers lock input and crop contract prices months or years in advance.
- Daniel Sumner notes California's diverse cropping means timing varies by crop, so forecasting needs crop-specific scheduling.