Dirt to Dollars.
Return's monthly digest of nutrient market dynamics, application economics, and operational decisions affecting Midwest growers. Sent the morning each issue publishes.
Washington Suspends Duties on Moroccan Phosphate — Farmers Could Save $1.82 Billion
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return’s monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: Washington moves to cut phosphate costs, Minnesota's drought footprint keeps growing right as pollination hits, and the nitrogen market is still waiting on China. Here's what's happening and what to do about it.
$4.7 million in soil health grants just hit record demand in Minnesota.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: Minnesota's soil health cost-share lands record demand, fertilizer prices keep climbing toward record rates, and a developing dry stretch starts testing early-season crops across the Upper Midwest.
The next global food crisis has already started. And it starts with fertilizer.
Welcome to a special issue of Dirt to Dollars — your monthly digest from Return that turns insights into income. This month, we're looking beyond our own Midwest fencerows. From the Strait of Hormuz to the fields of Ukraine to drought-stricken East Africa, farmers everywhere are navigating adversity. Their stories connect to ours.
One way to de-risk fertility in 2026: shorter supply chains.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: fertilizer markets have a long memory, $60–$90 per ton swings are back, and growers are taking a closer look at how much of their fertility program depends on global markets they can't control.
Farm Aid delivers a critical bridge for 2026.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: a $12B aid package lands before spring inputs are due, Minnesota expands soil-health funding, and strip-till keeps gaining ground across the Upper Midwest.
Cover crops show profit power in Upper Midwest.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: a 124-farm analysis confirms cover crops are paying off, the Supreme Court weighs in on tariff powers, and Minnesota pulls back on its treated-seed rule.
Soil health is your edge as input costs are reviewed.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: input costs are under scrutiny, UMN's Forever Green initiative pushes perennials forward, and a new report calls out greenwashing in regenerative programs.
$50M in on-farm support still on hold with USDA.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: federal dollars sit in limbo, dust storms drive an erosion conversation, and Iowa State's updated fertility guide sharpens nutrient decisions for tighter margins.
Regulations up. Margins down. What's next?
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: trade uncertainty pressures grain prices, low-CI corn premiums step into focus, and a packed late-summer event calendar.
Midwest land values holding strong.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: Midwest farmland defies the broader real-estate cycle, private capital steps in where USDA stepped out, and summer crops are bouncing back.
45Z tax credit extended — time to prep for premium corn.
Welcome to Dirt to Dollars — Return's monthly digest that turns insights into income. This month: 45Z is locked in through 2031, southern MN crops are bouncing back from May, and CBOT shows a solid summer marketing window.