Op-Ed: The Next Farm Bill Can Help Farmers Kick Fertilizer
June 10, 2026 | Source: Civil Eats | by Wendy Johnson
When the war in Iran drove up fertilizer prices just as my family prepared for this planting season, I felt a foreboding sense of déjà vu. I grew up in Charles City, Iowa in the 1980s, on a corn, soybean, and hog farm. It was the height of the Farm Crisis. Fertilizer prices were high then too, and when that collided with low crop prices and high interest rates, farm debt soared. My family managed to hang onto our farm, but money was tight, and we qualified for welfare.
After college, I moved to Los Angeles and pursued a fashion career. But a decade in, I felt that something was missing. In 2009, my grandmother passed away, and I started to think about the farm. I didn’t want my dad to have to sell it, and I knew he needed help. So in 2010, I moved back to Iowa, to farm.
After four years of learning from my dad, I decided I was ready to manage my own section of the farm. I’d always used food, nutrition, and exercise to keep myself healthy, and I wanted to try preventive practices—in the form of organic agriculture—for the animals I raised and the plants I grew. I rented a field from my family, transitioned it to organic, and put my sheep out on the healthiest pasture. I moved them daily from one paddock to the next, not allowing them to eat too much in one place. I stopped feeding them corn to fatten them up fast. And the soil started coming to life.