GREAT HORKESLEY, ENGLAND — A fertilizer shortage linked to the American-Israeli assault on Iran has affected farms in eastern England, where operations such as P.G. Rix Farms near Great Horkesley are contending with surging input costs and an uncertain planting season.

The Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-third of global granular urea fertilizer, has been at the center of the supply disruption. The price of Middle Eastern granular urea stood at $484 per ton on Feb. 27, 2026. As of Friday, that figure had reached $750 per ton — an increase of more than 50 percent. The strait also carries one-fifth of the world's crude oil, and oil prices have exceeded $100 per barrel for weeks, compounding cost pressures on farms that rely on fuel and petroleum-derived products.

Global food commodity prices have climbed to their highest levels since December, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said. "Those choices will hit future yields and shape our food supply," said Máximo Torero, chief economist of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

P.G. Rix Farms is located about a 90-minute drive east of London and employs around 40 people. Great Horkesley sits in a region of eastern England where potato fields stretch across pastoral landscapes and ancient forests that have inspired romantic painters and poets for centuries.

Stuart Josselyn, a 51-year-old machine operator at Rix Farms, said the consequences of the conflict would persist well beyond any ceasefire. "This is going to affect us for a long time, even if the war stops right now," Josselyn said. He also said: "He is causing real problems for real people throughout the whole world."

The fertilizer shortage is the latest in a succession of disruptions to affect British agriculture. The United Kingdom's departure from the European Union, the global coronavirus pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and changes in climate have all affected global trade conditions in recent years, placing repeated strain on farming operations across the country.