YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Fertilizer prices to likely increase at least 80% in 2022

By Gary Joiner
Publisher

Texas farmers know the price of fertilizer is high.

A leading study group has put a sharp pencil to it and answered, “How high?”

The Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University says it now appears fertilizer prices will increase more than 80% for the 2022 planting season relative to last year.

The impacts of the price increase to growers are substantial. The Center says the largest whole-farm impact would fall on its representative feed grain farms. The impact on those farms is an average of $128,000 per farm. The Center says the largest per-acre impact would fall on its representative rice farms at $62.04 per acre.

There are also concerns that raising tariffs on nitrogen will create shortages and cause prices to increase even more for farmers.

A major U.S. nitrogen producer has petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission to impose tariffs on nitrogen fertilizers imported from Trinidad and Tobago and Russia. The Commerce Department has released a preliminary finding recommending tariffs.

Texas farmers are facing the prospect of a huge increase in costs heading into the spring planting season.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

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