08/29/2026
The United States is drowning in chemical fertilizers, but Iowa uses them much more than other states. We already knew about the water pollution concerns, detrimental effects on public health and harms to farming communities, but our research team wanted to take a deeper dive into the data. Here’s what we found:
🚱 The nitrogen fertilizers used by industrial-scale farms may increase crop yields, but these fertilizers convert to toxic nitrates in the environment and leach into Iowa’s drinking water. Elevated nitrate levels in drinking water are linked to several cancers, birth defects and life-threatening “blue-baby syndrome.”
💰 A small handful of Big Ag companies make up the consolidated nitrogen fertilizer industry, allowing them to fix prices and profit immensely. In Iowa, prices for one type of nitrogen fertilizer have jumped from $721 to $1,088 per ton since January 2025. Meanwhile, small- and medium-sized farms struggle to compete with these cost increases – risking further consolidation of the industry.
🐮 Most corn grown today feeds factory-farmed livestock or is used to make ethanol. In the 2025 crop year, 88.8 percent of domestic corn use went to these two uses, while 7.8 percent went into processed food additives. Similarly, most U.S. soy is used to produce animal feed.
Iowa’s water pollution, cancer crisis and corporate consolidation can’t be seriously addressed without reforming our food system, which is currently set up to perpetuate the overuse of fertilizers while feeding the factory farm industry. Learn more in our new memo and find out how you can fight back – in Iowa and across the country: https://fwwat.ch/4i0CcuE
