Trump tells Wisconsin farmers costs will fall after Iran war ends

Donald Trump used a farm roundtable in Chippewa Falls to tell Wisconsin growers that their costs would come down after the war in Iran ends, even as the conflict continued to shake fuel and fertilizer markets that farmers depend on every day. The event at Custer Farms came as rural producers in Wisconsin have spent months warning that the war’s impact is squeezing planting budgets and widening the gap between what farmers pay and what many smaller operations can absorb.

Trump’s stop on Friday, June 5, was his first return to Wisconsin since he was reelected in 2024 and his first Wisconsin appearance of the 2026 election season. Republican Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Tom Tiffany attended, underscoring how central the state’s rural vote remains in a presidential year that is already moving through the farm belt. The appearance was framed around support for agriculture and rural communities, but the message was also economic: Trump told the gathered farmers that fertilizer prices would go way down after the war in Iran ends.

The underlying pressure is not abstract. The war has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil flows, and that has pushed up fuel and fertilizer costs for farms across the Midwest. Diesel is especially important for Wisconsin growers because it powers machinery in the field and carries crops and inputs to market. Many farmers had prepaid for fuel and fertilizer before the spike, but the higher energy costs have still narrowed margins during spring planting and raised fears that some smaller farms could be priced out.

Gasoline prices show how quickly those shocks can reach consumers and how they can also begin to ease even while a conflict continues. The average U.S. regular gasoline price was $4.50 a gallon for the week ending May 11, up $1.56 from $2.94 in the week ending February 23, a jump of 53% in a matter of weeks. Recent market reporting has said prices have started to edge lower, but they remain well above pre-war levels and volatile as traders watch the status of U.S.-Iran negotiations.

That uneven path reflects the mechanics of the oil market: global supply, refining capacity, inventories and demand do not move in lockstep with geopolitics. If crude supply fears ease, or if inventories build and refiners keep running smoothly, pump prices can soften before a conflict is fully resolved. For farmers in Wisconsin, though, the relief has yet to reach the diesel tanks and fertilizer bills that shape whether a season is profitable or punishing.