A Galva farmer has filed a sweeping federal class‑action lawsuit accusing six of the world’s largest fertilizer producers of price fixing and driving fertilizer costs to artificially high levels — a move he says has squeezed farmers across Iowa and the country.
The lawsuit, filed April 30 in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, comes from Steven Vohs, who alleges the companies controlling most of the U.S. market for nitrogen, phosphate and potash — collectively known as NPK fertilizers — have conspired since Jan. 1, 2020 to eliminate competitive pricing. According to the complaint, the companies exchanged sensitive market information, coordinated pricing and held secret meetings to keep fertilizer prices “fixed, raised, stabilized or maintained at artificially high levels.”
Vohs says he personally paid above‑market prices for fertilizer sold by one or more of the companies and is seeking class‑action status so thousands of farmers could join the case. The suit asks for a ruling that the companies violated federal antitrust law and seeks triple damages, plus interest and restitution.
The lawsuit outlines decades of consolidation in the fertilizer industry. Since 1980, the number of firms has shrunk from 46 to 13, and today just four companies control about 75 percent of the U.S. nitrogen market, while two companies control nearly all U.S. potash production. With so few players, the suit argues, meaningful price competition has been “restrained, suppressed or eliminated.”
The complaint also points to the dramatic price spikes farmers faced in 2021, when fertilizer costs jumped 60 to 95 percent, even as input costs and demand fell. Iowa Corn Growers Association President Mark Mueller told a U.S. Senate committee that fertilizer prices had climbed so high some farmers were being forced to choose between buying fertilizer and staying solvent.
National reporting has indicated the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a formal antitrust investigation into fertilizer pricing — a backdrop that adds weight to Vohs’ claims.
The lawsuit names six major fertilizer producers: Canpotex, CF Industries, Koch Agronomic Services, Nutrien AG Solutions, The Mosaic Company, and Yara International.
According to the lawsuit, American farmers used more than 20 million metric tons of fertilizer in 2023, and the U.S. NPK fertilizer market was valued at nearly $30 billion in 2024.
