Modern Farmer | Farmers Frustrated as Fertilizer Costs Soared in 2022
Fertilizer corporations blamed 2022’s record-breaking prices on market disruptions, but Farm Action’s Joe Maxwell says monopolistic practices are to blame.
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In December of 2021, months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fertilizer prices were spiking to all-time highs. Farm Action called on the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate this highly-consolidated sector, as the price spikes coincided suspiciously with an increase in income farmers earned from commodity crops like soybeans and corn. Fertilizer corporations blamed mounting costs and supply chain issues as the reason for the higher prices, but their own financial statements and sky-rocketing profits clearly refute these excuses.
In January of 2022, Farm Action released a research report and testified before Congress on the extent and implications of corporate consolidation in this sector. Citing our research, the Financial Times reported that the lack of competition in fertilizer was affecting prices and could exacerbate a developing global food shortage: Faced with unaffordable fertilizer costs, farmers are planting less acreage or reducing fertilizer applications — both of which lead to lower yields.
In June of 2022, Farm Action and 23 signing organizations urged the USDA to create a more competitive fertilizer industry by directing investment away from consolidated corporations, monitoring price-gouging, and by more aggressively preventing corporate mergers.
Other solutions, like changing to alternative fertility management systems, are part of Farm Action’s long-term goal to transform the food and farm system. We are working to shift government support toward programs that reward farmers for the use of regenerative practices that use less fertilizer — freeing farmers from the thumb of consolidated corporations.
Sign our petition and tell the DOJ to investigate the suspicious spike in fertilizer prices!
Fertilizer corporations blamed 2022’s record-breaking prices on market disruptions, but Farm Action’s Joe Maxwell says monopolistic practices are to blame.
As fertilizer prices remain at all-time highs and corporations reap record profits, Farm Action and 23 groups urged USDA to decentralize fertilizer production.
Farm Action and 23 allied organizations issued an urgent call to decentralize fertilizer production ahead of a global food crisis.
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