The Strait of Hormuz blockade is causing a slow-moving food crisis

April 13, 2026 Abigail Bassett

photo of Strait of Hormuz
A view of the vessels passing through Strait of Hormuz following the two-week temporary ceasefire reached between the United States and Iran, seen in Oman on April 8, 2026. | Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images

Farmers are very busy in the spring, under pressure to get crops into the ground just as the Northern Hemisphere begins to thaw. But this year has been different for many, thanks in large part to the escalating war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow channel, approximately 30 miles wide at its tightest point, between the Omani Musandam Peninsula and Iran. Roughly half of fertilizer feedstock exports - the various raw materials used to make fertilizer like urea, ammonia, sulfur, hydrogen, natural gas, and nitrogen - come through the Strait. And about roughly half of the world's food production re …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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