Hyde-Smith took fertilizer money as farmers struggled with soaring costs

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s ties to the fertilizer industry are undermining her campaign pledge to help struggling Mississippi farmers.

Campaign finance disclosures indicate that Hyde-Smith and her affiliated PACs have accepted at least $14,000 from the fertilizer industry since 2018. This includes $3,000 from Nutrien and $11,000 from Koch Industries.

In March, the Justice Department launched an investigation into both companies ,alleging that they had colluded with one another to raise prices, increasing costs for U.S. farmers. Around the same time, an antitrust civil suit was filed against Nutrien, Koch Industries, and other fertilizer producers.

“Most people will never think about the cost of fertilizer, but American farmers live with it every day,” said Greg Asciolla, the attorney spearheading the suit. “When prices for an essential input are artificially inflated, the impact falls squarely on farmers and ripples across the food system.”

Hyde-Smith’s campaign website says, “Agriculture is the number one economic sector in Mississippi, and nobody will be a stronger or more knowledgeable advocate in the U.S. Senate for the interests of Mississippi’s farmers and ranchers than Cindy.”

Fertilizer costs have also been driven up by President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and the war in Iran, both of which Hyde-Smith supported. NPR reports that about one-third of the world’s nitrogen supply, a primary component in fertilizers, passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade waterway that has been intermittently blocked since the war began.

Anthony Bland, a soybean farmer in the Mississippi Delta, told NPR that he spent $10,000 more on fertilizer this spring than he did last year.

On April 29, Hyde-Smith tried to offer relief by introducing a bill that would eliminate tariffs on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco. This came one year after Hyde-Smith voted to confirm Jamieson Greer as United States Trade Representative, despite his record of pushing for fertilizer tariffs in his previous career as a lobbyist.

Hyde-Smith’s legislation appears unlikely to pass.

Hyde-Smith is running for a second full term this year. Her Democratic challenger is lawyer Scott Colom.