Fertilizer price

[outdoorstom]

 

I’ve read recently that fertilizer prices are rising dramatically,  and that there are shortages.  I just got off the phone with a large dairy farmer friend and he was giving me the shocking details.  As it stands, there is only 70% of what is normally available right now.  Last year he paid $305 a ton for nitrogen, this year it’s at $1025 a ton.  The nitrogen is produced using natural gas and we get 60% of our nitrogen from Russia due to their huge natural gas production. Russia has said they will cut off our nitrogen supply if more sanctions are placed on them, which would most likely happen if they invade Ukraine.  

Dairy farmers do have an advantage over row crop farmers because they have liquid manure to apply to their fields. On a side note, I had no idea that based on which crops have been previously grown in a field, they sometimes apply 10,000 gallons an acre! 

Another side note…..roundup has gone from $16 a gallon to $74 a gallon due to worker and ingredient shortages.

The gist of all this is a heads up that food shortages are a possibility. 

[Nomad]

Yep. The dairy farm next to the farm I hunt has a large manure lagoon, and “ our “ farm pays them to apply it to the land near them . The hoses and relay pumps let them go well over a half mile if not a mile . I’ll text the farmer,but I’ve read that the bigger farms are first in line for fertilizer.

As for food we could probably go 3-4 months ( more meat wise ) without buying any .

[E J]

I use about 150 tons of fertilizer a year on the crops I grow. We have been told to expect to pay double next spring. It is going to suck! 

[SpacemanSpiff]

37 minutes ago, E J said:

I use about 150 tons of fertilizer a year on the crops I grow. We have been told to expect to pay double next spring. It is going to suck! 

Yup pretty much 

[wolc123]

I don’t use much roundup, and hopefully I can stretch my current supply of that until things get back under control.    I can also stretch the nitrogen pretty far, by growing all of my corn on old clover ground.

 I will probably skip the brassicas next year, because the deer haven’t touched then much this year and it takes a lot of nitrogen to make decent yields.