Skyrocketing costs, unfair markets, and poor policy are pressuring farmers thanks to the ongoing conflict Published May 15, 2026 6:30AM (EDT) An aerial view shows Alan Montag, a third-generation Iowa farmer, planting soybeans on farmland he leases on May 06, 2026 near West Bend, Iowa. As the spring planting season moves into full swing, farmers are facing big spikes in fuel and fertilizers costs overs last spring due to the war with Iran. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) The rain in Windsor, North Carolina , is way behind schedule. Despite the seat of Bertie County being crisscrossed with rivers and creeks and lying on the estuary of the Albemarle Sound, local farmer Charles Harden reckons the area is suffering from a 12-inch rain shortfall in the first five months of 2026. “It’s been terrible dry,” Harden told Salon. Windsor usually gets about 50 inches of rain a year. That’s bad news for his company, Clovergrass Produce, and its crop of soybeans, cucumbers, peanuts and corn plus his herd of beef cattle.…