John Harmuth might be the jolliest farmer customers may see at the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh.
"God told me I shuold be a grower when I was 11 years old," Harmuth said.
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After more than 30 years of weathering the unpredictability that comes with the career, Harmuth said it was that callling that helped hime continue growing and selling a number of herbs, flowers, shrubberies and other produce.
According to Harmuth, fertilizer is what helps him and other farmers maintain that ability to sell what they grow.
"We can't grow what we grow without fertilizer," Harmuth said.
But as the Iran War prepares enters its second month, farmers in North Carolina said it could begin to strain the resources necessary for their crops to grow.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, U.S. companies import about 18% of the nitrogen fertilizer sold here. Many of the key compounds and nutrients needed for the fertilizer pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which was cut off by Iran after the war began.
Harmuth told WRAL News that he bought fertilizer last year for the products he sells at the farmer's market in 2026, so while he hasn't felt an impact from the war yet, it is weighing on him.
"I have to buy fertilizer, probably, in May or June, and I expect to have to pay more, because the price of fertilizer just rides the curve with oil," Harmuth said.
>> State Farmer's Market vendors feel oil squeeze amid Iran War
Traffic through the strait has fallen by 90% since the start of the Iran war, sending global oil prices skyrocketing and inflicting alarming shortages on the Asian nations that get their oil from Persian Gulf countries via the strait.
A majority of the ships that have made it through in recent weeks headed east, out of the Gulf; Iran-affiliated ships accounted for 24% of transits, Greece 18%, and China 10% counted by ownership or flag registration. Yet on closer examination, vessels connected to Iran accounted for 60% of transits during the first part of the war and in the last few days, some 90%.
Harmuth said he would likely have to pass any extra costs he faces onto his customers, adding that the situation is "beyond our control."
"We just have to pay if we want to produce," Harmuth said. "And, of course, like anything, we'd have to pass on whatever [extra] expense to our customers, if we can't absorb it ourselves by efficiency or improvement."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.