News
Prices keep rising and input guarantees are dwindling
A Midwestern farmer says he’s seeing a three-fold increase in fertilizer prices compared to this time last year.
Randy Poll tells Brownfield looking back, he wishes he bought more product last August when prices were only doubled.
“That’s a little concerning going into this next year, corn prices I don’t think justify the rate increase that we’ve been seeing.,” he says.
Poll says increases related to natural gas hikes only account for about 15 percent of fertilizer costs and pending tariffs on nitrogen could make the situation even worse.
“All the forms of nitrogen went up so we’re kind of stuck,” he says.
Even if he can get product, Poll’s suppliers are telling him the lack of truck drivers and other logistical issues are affecting all crop inputs.
“They told us we might get half to two-thirds of our Roundup order, I found out yesterday Atrazine is on allocation—we might get half to two-thirds of that,” he says. “We’ve had three price increases since Christmas.”
Poll also raises farrow to finish pigs and he tells Brownfield this year all manure will be utilized to save tens of thousands of dollars in nutrients. Poll farms in southwest Michigan and serves as the president of the Michigan Corn Growers Association.
