Photo credit: National Corn Growers Association.
The National Corn Growers Association is urging Congress to address fertilizer affordability and market concentration concerns as producers continue facing elevated input costs and tight farm margins.
The organization highlighted grower concerns during a recent Senate Agriculture Committee hearing focused on fertilizer affordability and competition within the fertilizer industry.
South Dakota Corn Growers Association President Trent Kubik told lawmakers that fertilizer pricing and availability remain major concerns for corn farmers planning future crop years.
“In August, South Dakota farmers will begin to seriously plan and make decisions regarding the 2027 corn crop,” Kubik said during the hearing. “The majority of corn farmers are therefore concerned about fertilizer price and availability as they look forward.”
Corn industry leaders traveled to Washington during planting season to advocate for passage of the Fertilizer Transparency Act, introduced by Sens. John Thune and Amy Klobuchar, along with additional fertilizer-related legislation.
The organization argued that fertilizer costs continue placing pressure on growers already facing difficult economic conditions.
“Farmers are saddled with an economic situation that is unsustainable, with skyrocketing fertilizer prices coupled with corn prices that can’t support those costs,” said Michigan farmer and NCGA First Vice President Matt Frostic. “The fertilizer industry has become more consolidated, more concentrated, and more unworkable for farmers.”
NCGA and affiliated state organizations have increasingly focused on fertilizer market concentration, arguing that industry consolidation has reduced competition and limited transparency for farmers purchasing crop nutrients.
Kubik told senators that mergers within the fertilizer sector have significantly changed the market over the past several decades.
“Over the past 40 years, fewer and fewer fertilizer firms serve the U.S. farmer due in no small part to industry mergers,” Kubik said. “By almost any measure, these are highly concentrated markets.”
The issue remains particularly important for corn growers because fertilizer is one of the largest operating expenses in grain production.
NCGA said growers are seeking greater market transparency and stronger competition protections as they prepare for future planting decisions amid continued uncertainty surrounding input costs and fertilizer availability.
Source: National Corn Growers Association, "Corn Growers Fight for Transparency, Competition in Fertilizer Market"