Row Crops Today — May 29, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
📋 FTC launches formal investigation into Nutrien, Mosaic, and CF Industries fertilizer pricing
💰 Potash and UAN32 post first fertilizer price declines in 14 weeks
🏦 ARC/PLC base-acre election window opens June 1 under One Big Beautiful Bill Act
🔬 Penn State trials show soybean fungicide seed treatments add only ~20 lb/acre
📊 Iowa 2026 cash rent average slips $1 to $270/acre, ISU survey finds
Top Story
📋 FTC opens formal probe of fertilizer industry pricing. — LINK
The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal investigation into whether Nutrien, Mosaic, CF Industries and other major fertilizer manufacturers have colluded to keep nutrient prices artificially high. The action follows months of producer complaints and political pressure as input costs reached fresh highs heading into the 2026 season. DTN's latest weekly survey shows anhydrous ammonia is 44% above year-ago levels at $1,118/ton and urea is up 27%, with all eight major fertilizers tracked still higher than May 2025. The probe targets pricing conduct across nitrogen, phosphate and potash segments dominated by a small number of suppliers. South Dakota corn farmer Brian Hefty told AgWeb that urea ran roughly $200 to $300 per ton in 2020 before climbing to about $900 per ton in 2022, and he said producers are "fed up" with input costs that have outpaced grain prices. The FTC inquiry runs parallel to a Department of Justice review opened earlier this spring and to a U.S. Department of Agriculture effort that includes a federal trucking waiver issued Tuesday to ease fertilizer transportation through August 26.
More This Week
💰 Potash and UAN32 break a 14-week run of fertilizer price gains. — LINK
DTN's third-week-of-May survey shows potash at $494/ton and UAN32 at $586/ton, the first month-over-month declines for any major fertilizer since the second week of February; anhydrous held at $1,118/ton, DAP at $912/ton and MAP at $953/ton.
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a full-scale, all-of-government's effort to strengthen the country's fertilizer supply, including efforts to lower shipping costs, expand fertilizer production, and cut red tape so that fertilizers reach America's farmers," said the FMCSA waiver issued May 26.
All eight DTN-tracked fertilizers remain above year-ago levels: anhydrous +44%, UAN28 +28%, urea +27%, UAN32 +19%, MAP +15%, DAP +14%, 10-34-0 +9% and potash +5%.
🏦 ARC/PLC base-acre election window opens Sunday. — LINK
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025, allocated 30 million new commodity base acres through ARC and PLC and raised the ARC county trigger yield from 86% to 90%; eligible landowners have from June 1 through August 31 to request base-acre increases.
"When the ARC or PLC payment comes out, it doesn't matter which one you'd signed up for. Whichever one is going to make a higher payment, that's the one you're going to be paid on," said Jason Williamson, Williamson Crop Insurance.
ARC and PLC payments are calculated on FSA base acres rather than planted acres for the current crop year, Williamson noted.
🔬 Penn State: soybean fungicide seed treatments add only ~20 lb/acre. — LINK
A Penn State analysis of Midwest field trials found fungicide seed treatments — now applied to an estimated 60% to 75% of U.S. soybean seed — produced an average yield gain of about 20 pounds per acre, frequently below the breakeven needed to cover treatment costs.
Researchers concluded the treatments only consistently pay when soybean cash prices are high and treatment prices are low, based on 2014–2016 trial data applied to current cost structures.
The study covers the standard fungicide chemistries used as protective seed coatings against early-season seedling diseases across multiple Midwest states.
📊 Iowa 2026 cash rents slip $1 to $270/acre. — LINK
ISU Extension's annual survey put the 2026 Iowa statewide average cash rent at $270/acre, down 0.4% from 2025, with high-quality ground off $3, medium-quality off $2 and low-quality up $1.
The ISU Extension report cited "low commodity prices and elevated input costs pressuring farm margins," with federal relief programs including the Supplemental Disaster Relief Program, Farmer Bridge Assistance and Emergency Commodity Assistance Program helping support rent levels.
County rents ranged from $173/acre in Wayne County to $332/acre in Sioux County; East Central and Southwest Iowa districts posted the largest declines at $5/acre, while Northwest Iowa was the only district to gain, up $2/acre.
Basis Watch
Missouri North Central corn basis firmed 10 cents on Tuesday, the day's largest old-crop corn move. Missouri Central improved 5 cents on the low end, while Missouri Northeast broke 5 cents in the opposite direction. Iowa Northwest narrowed 6 cents on the top of its range. The pattern fit the spring clearout window, with old-crop corn basis improving across most of the Corn Belt while new-crop corn softened — Colorado North Central new-crop weakened 5 cents on the high end.
On the soybean side, South Dakota East Central and South Dakota Southeast each broke 10 cents on the top of their ranges. Minnesota South firmed 10 cents on the low end, and Missouri Northeast strengthened 9 cents.
Source: USDA AMS
Anhydrous ammonia is up 44% year-over-year, the steepest gain among all eight major fertilizers tracked by DTN as of the third week of May 2026.
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