Fertilizer demand looks to fall as North American farmers plant less in reaction to higher prices
Logic says that demand for fertilizer should be soaring as North American farmers look to increase production at a time when grain prices are near record highs thanks to the severe reduction in exports from the Ukraine and Russia. Logic, however, looks to be wrong. An article in the Financial Times on June 4 reports that demand for fertilizer is falling in response to record prices–for fertilizer. Farmers faced with higher costs for everything from fertilizer to diesel fuel are feeling themselves squeezed in spite of higher grain prices. So they’re buying less fertilizer and shifting away from crops such as corn that require heavy fertilizer use and toward crops such as soybeans, that require less fertilizer. U.S. farmers, the Financial Times reports, have told the U.S. Department of Agriculture that they intend to plant 4% fewer acres with corn n this spring and boost the number of acres dedicated to soybeans.
