Saskatchewan Farmers Face Higher Fertilizer Costs: ‘It Definitely Affects Our Bottom Line’ | The Canadian News

After emerging from a drought this summer, Saskatchewan farmers now face another challenge: higher fertilizer costs.

Mike Floer, who farms in Minton, Sask., said he paid almost double what he usually pays for fertilizer.

“It definitely affects our bottom line. When expenses go up while income stays high, everything works. But when commodity prices are down again and fertilizer prices are still at record levels, it’s not a fun day to be a farmer.”

The fertilizer helps farmers get off to a good start by supplying nutrients throughout the season, said Saskatchewan Agricultural Producers Association (APAS) President Todd Lewis.

“Without fertilizer, yields have been reduced, and in many cases, yields have been drastically reduced, so it’s a big component of sustainable agriculture here in the province,” Lewis added.

Fertilizer is a global product that is sold around the world, so it tends to have a global pricing structure, explained Clyde Graham of Fertilizer Canada.

Graham added that the price depends on supply and demand.

“The price of fertilizers tends to depend mainly on the demand of farmers. One of the main factors right now is that grain and seed prices are very high, which is why farmers in many parts of the world are looking for fertilizers to maximize their production,” said Graham.

He added that farmers are taking advantage of high prices for crops such as corn, canola, wheat and barley.

“Part of the reason those crops are pretty high is that stocks or inventories of those grains and oilseeds are currently pretty low by historical standards and that tends to drive up the price of grains and oilseeds and then it goes up.” the demand for fertilizers. Graham added.

There are four main types of fertilizers used by farmers: nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and sulfur.

Along with the demand for fertilizers, Graham explained that there have been challenges in global fertilizer production.

One of Canada’s major nitrogen plants went down this fall, and there have also been outages at a production area in the United States.

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There have also been weather-related problems for phosphate production in Florida.

“In Europe there’s been a significant market disruption with natural gas, which is a key component of fertilizer manufacturing and then in Russia and China, which normally export a lot of fertilizer, (they) keep that fertilizer in-house at this moment,” Graham explained.

Floer said the most frustrating part for farmers is that the situation is out of their control.

“However, we are the ones who have to write the checks for high-priced inputs,” he told Global News.

Lewis said this price increase is huge for growers.

“It’s come at a time where for a lot of growers it’s going to create a real cash crunch heading into the spring,” Lewis said.

“Unfortunately, their income is very low due to last year’s drought and now putting in a crop next spring is going to cost a lot more.”

Lewis said growers can turn to other crops, adding that there are other options in Saskatchewan.

“Canola is a crop that typically uses a lot of nitrogen. You can get away with using a little less on a crop like spring wheat or durum wheat,” Lewis explained.

“There are also some nutrients left in the soil in the areas that didn’t get a lot of rain last year and of course last year’s crop was put in with a full package of nutrients and in some cases some of those nutrients are left in the soil. for next year.”

Graham’s advice for farmers is to stay in close contact with the agricultural retailer that supplies them with fertilizer, pesticide seeds or other crop inputs.

“They are going to be the best source of information on where the market is going,” Graham said.

Graham suggests farmers talk to their agricultural retailer about what types of crops they’re growing and their fertilizer needs to figure out the best way to estimate supply.

“We certainly understand the frustration of growers dealing with the current market conditions,” Graham said.

“I think our industry is doing everything it can to make sure that farmers have access to produce this spring in time for spring planting and that any supply issues are corrected as soon as possible.”