As someone with a medium to large scale farm, the fertilizer price rises have been pretty severe. Already up about 40% over last year. It's really a confluence of factors. Natural gas is required to produce ammonia (it's about 80% of the cost), and usually the the prices of both move together, but this has outpaced those global fuel increases. Supply chain disruptions, increased demand, new tariffs on urea, higher fuel costs have all contributed.
Fertilizer accounts for about 35% of the input costs for my farm (corn and beans) and 25% for other crops so price changes have a pretty significant impact. There's pros and cons, price increases means less fertilizer applied and lower yields, but also less environmental impact and runoff/leaching.
Fertilizer accounts for about 35% of the input costs for my farm (corn and beans) and 25% for other crops so price changes have a pretty significant impact. There's pros and cons, price increases means less fertilizer applied and lower yields, but also less environmental impact and runoff/leaching.