Iran Conflict’s Transportation Impact ‘Merits Our Attention,’ Steenhoek Says

The trouble currently happening in the Middle East is creating shipping issues that have an impact on farmers and elevators. Mike Steenhoek, the executive director of the Soybean Checkoff-supported Soy Transportation Coalition, puts it this way.

“Supply chains do not like turmoil, they do not like uncertainty. And we're seeing that manifest itself currently with some of the supply chain challenges with the conflict in Iran,” Steenhoek told the South Dakota Soybean Network in a recent interview.

The war is an immense tragedy, of course, in its cost of human lives. Where it will be felt in agriculture, according to Steenhoek, is in its effect on the movement of farm inputs, such as fuel and fertilizer.

“While our oceans are vast and expansive, there's a lot of areas on the globe where shipping really consolidates and has to fit through a very narrow conduit,” he said. “And the Strait of Hormuz is one of those places.”

Although many farmers have locked in fuel supplies for spring planting, Steenhoek says the choking off of one of the world’s most prolific oil shipping lanes is bound to cause financial pain for farmers.

“When you're seeing these kind of fuel cost escalations, that's not just a number on a sign. It has real relevance to the profitability and the bottom line of an individual farmer,” Steenhoek explained. “It's kind of like, just one more leak in the profitability bucket that farmers are experiencing.”

Farmers who are buying fuel following the attack on Iran will, on average, pay $2,000 more for fuel, said Steenhoek, while grain elevators will be on the hook for $100,000 in additional costs.

Steenhoek cites these examples; first for the farmer:

• 1,000 acres (500 bushels of soybeans + 500 bushels of corn)
• 500 bushels of soybeans at 53 bushels (national average) per acre = 26,500 bushels of soybeans produced
• 500 bushels of corn at 186 bushels (national average) per acre = 93,000 bushels of corn produced
• 26,500 bushels of soybeans transported by semi at 900 bushels per load = 29 trips required (Utilizing a 5 axle, 80,000 lbs. semi)
• 93,000 bushels of corn transported by semi at 964 bushels per load = 96 trips required (Utilizing a 5 axle, 80,000 lbs. semi)
• 125 total trips required (29 trips + 96 trips)
• If the delivery location is 40 miles from the farm (80 miles roundtrip), 10,000 miles will be driven annually (125 trips X 80 miles)
• Assuming 6 miles per gallon fuel efficiency, 1,667 gallons of fuel will be purchased annually (10,000 miles at 6 miles per gallon)
• 1,667 gallons X $3.69 per gallon of diesel fuel (average nationwide price on February 9, 2026) = $6,151.23 total annual diesel cost
• 1,667 gallons X $4.86 (average nationwide price on March 9, 2026) = $8,102.62 total annual diesel cost
• This single farmer would pay almost $2,000 more ($1,950.30 to be exact) in diesel fuel due to cost escalation over the past month

And for the grain elevator:

• 6 million bushels handled (2 million bushels of soybeans + 4 million bushels of corn)
• 2 million bushels of soybeans at 900 bushels per load = 2,222 trips for soybeans (Utilizing a 5 axle, 80,000 lbs. semi)
• 4 million bushels of corn at 964 bushels per load = 4,149 trips for corn (Utilizing a 5 axle, 80,000 lbs. semi)
• 6,371 total trips required (2,222 trips + 4,149 trips)
• If the delivery location is 40 miles from the elevator (80 miles roundtrip), 509,680 miles will be driven annually (6,371 trips X 80 miles)
• Assuming 6 miles per gallon fuel efficiency, 84,947 gallons of fuel will be purchased annually (509,680 at 6 miles per gallon)
• 84,947 gallons X $3.69 per gallon of diesel fuel (average nationwide price on February 9, 2026) = $313,454 total annual diesel cost
• 84,947 gallons X $4.86 (average nationwide price on March 9, 2026) = $412,842 total annual diesel cost
• This single grain elevator would pay almost $100,000 more ($99,388 to be exact) in diesel fuel due to cost escalation over the past month. These examples use the nationwide average diesel fuel price of $4.86 on March 9^th, but the average price had climbed to $5.00 by March 17^th, the time of this writing.

“I just don't know a lot of farmers that just have that kind of money to blow,” Steenhoek said, referring to his cited examples. “Margins are very tight. I don't know a lot of grain elevators that just simply have that kind of money to throw away. It is something that's very real and it's something that obviously merits our attention.”