AFBF Economist: Fertilizer Prices The Chief Concern For American Growers

Fertilizer prices have risen as much as 300% in some areas, making 2022 preparations more difficult. Shelby Myers, economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said those skyrocketing prices are among the top concerns for farmers and ranchers.

“All major nutrients are used in the production of primary row crops in the U.S. have experienced since September 2020 prices that are increased over 150-175%, even over 200% in some cases, and fertilizer is a global commodity so it can be influenced by a lot of market factors. We had a lot of impacts from COVID-19 and the precautions that were put in place, we import a lot of our nutrient use in the U.S. and those can be influenced by global factors.”

Supply chain disruptions and trade duties put in place are also contributing to the rapidly rising prices. With all the factors currently in place, Myers says it might keep fertilizer prices higher through the spring of 2022, which would have a negative impact on agriculture. Myers said the challenge of high fertilizer prices won’t be an easy one to fix.

"Unfortunately, there's a lot of factors going on all at once, and that culmination is kind of coming into this understanding that this might be a wait and see experience for a lot of farmers because we have to wait for supply and demand to rebalance and redistribute and catch up to itself. But some other things that are solutions are addressing those import tariffs and having a need for tariff relief. If we can mitigate some of those direct-applied price increases and find ways to address the immediate impact to farmers bottom line, that will be really helpful.”

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