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Rising costs and more tariff uncertainty complicating long-term planning for U.S. farmers and ag retailers

The president and CEO of the Agricultural Retailers Association says the Trump administration’s tariff policies continue to cause uncertainty and volatility in the ag input sector.

Darren Coppock says added costs due to tariffs on ingredients for pesticides and herbicides have mostly been absorbed by the companies.

“But they can’t do that forever.”  He says, “You’ve seen some projections already that show production costs are going to go up this year, and I think a lot of it is the tariff impact is finally starting to bleed all the way through into farm prices.”

Coppock says tariffs on lumber and steel are also hampering potential for expanded domestic fertilizer production due to elevated construction costs on top of the uncertainty. He tells Brownfield, “When the tariffs come on instantly and no predictability on what the level of the tariff’s going to be, how long it’s going to last, that’s a planning environment that you just can’t operate in when you’ve got multi-year horizons to work on getting your plants to pay for themselves.”

In a social media post over the weekend, President Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Canadian products in response to the country’s new trade deal with China.  In a recent interview with Brownfield, Coppock says U.S. farmers rely on Canadian potash, and up to this point supplies and prices have been relatively stable.

Brownfield spoke with Coppock at the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association’s 2026 annual conference in Peoria.

AUDIO: Darren Coppock – Agricultural Retailers Association