Sen. Tammy Baldwin, along with Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, introduced legislation to lower the cost of fertilizer.
The bill aims to shine a light on market factors driving the high cost of fertilizer. The Fertilizer Research Act would require the USDA to conduct a study on competition and trends in the fertilizer market and their subsequent impacts on price.
“Wisconsin’s farmers are the backbone of our rural communities and right now, they are facing all sorts of headwinds that are eating into their bottom lines and threatening their ability to make ends meet,” Baldwin says. “Fertilizer costs are often a huge expense for farmers, and that’s why I am proud to work with my Republican colleagues to increase transparency and lower their input costs so they can continue to feed America.”
Within one year of the bill’s passage, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Economic Research Service, would be required to issue a report on USDA’s website regarding the U.S. fertilizer industry.
Specifically, the report should include:
- A description of impacts on the fertilizer market that influence price;
- Market trends in the past 25 years;
- A description of the imported fertilizer and market impacts;
- Impacts of anti-dumping and countervailing duties;
- A study of fertilizer industry concentration;
- A study of emerging fertilizer technologies; and
- A description of whether current public price reporting is sufficient for market transparency.
The Wisconsin Corn Growers Association endorses the Fertilizer Research Act, among other national agricultural groups.
“Corn growers are facing prices for fertilizers and other inputs that are unsustainable,” says National Corn Growers Association President Kenneth Hartman Jr. “In fact, USDA projects that fertilizer alone will account for 36 percent of a corn grower’s operating cost for 2025.”
Leave a Reply