It’s going to cost more green to get green this summer, local farm and garden supply managers say.
“Fertilizer prices are the highest I’ve seen in probably 10 years,” said Dan Shipp, general manager at the Oktibbeha County Farmers Cooperative.
“It’s about double what it was last year,” said Jeff Hays, manager at the Lowndes County Co-op.
“I’ve noticed that people are price-shopping more, trying to find something cheaper,” said Mary Tuggle, manager of Walton’s Greenhouse in Columbus.
From home gardeners to cattle ranchers and row crop planters, customers have seen the cost of fertilizer increase incrementally over the past year, an increase only exacerbated by inflation, fuel costs, transportation and most recently, a railroad strike in Canada and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I originally thought that the prices would start to come down in June once the row crops are planted,” Hays said. “That’s what usually happens. But with the conflict in Ukraine going on, I really don’t see an end to the price increases.”
There are three basic types of fertilizer — phosphate-based, nitrogen-based and potash.
“Potash is a mined product, and the two biggest producers of potash are Russia and Canada,” Hays noted. “So you can see how what’s going on affects prices.”
The Russian invasion, which has stopped shipments from Russia, is compounded by the Canadian railroad workers strike, which began Monday, and interruptions in supply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the spike in prices is also seen in nitrogen- and phosphate-based fertilizers, too.
“It’s really across the board,” Shipp said. “There are a lot of things going on — fuel costs, shortages of truckers and, of course, what’s happening in Russia.”
While there are domestic sources for nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, the prices have continued to increase.
“Fertilizers are sold on the global market, just like oil,” Hays said. “So when a big fertilizer plant in some other part of the world shuts down, that means there’s less supply and prices go up everywhere.”
In addition to price increases, Tuggle said it’s been difficult to keep some popular fertilizers in stock.
“We have back orders for 13-13-13 and 8-8-8, which are the two most popular fertilizers for home gardeners,” Tuggle said.
“There are some supply issues,” Shipp said. “We’ve been waiting on some orders for over a year now. But we’re pretty well stocked with bagged products. That’s not really the big problem.”
The risk for Hays and Shipp is how much stock to purchase.
“For Dan and me, the problem is you don’t want to overstock at these higher prices and then get stuck with when the prices go down,” Hays said. “We saw that back in 2007-2008.”
For Hays, the high cost of fertilizer affects him not only as a retailer but as a consumer.
Hays is a cattle rancher and uses the fertilizer to grow hay and grass for his 80 head of cattle.
“I’ll usually spend $5,000 to $6,000 on fertilizers during a normal year,” Hays said. “It will be double that if I use the same amount. I’ll probably work a little under that this year because of the cost. You can usually rob your soil (of the fertilizer) for a season, but even then you’re going to see lower yields. For homeowners, it means maybe you won’t have that lush green lawn like you normally do when you fertilize.”
Shipp said there’s really no alternative.
“You can buy the fertilizer at these high prices or you can cut back or maybe not fertilize or not fertilize as much,” he said. “But either way, it’s a trade-off.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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