With planting season gearing up and farmers facing high fertilizer prices and supply chain concerns, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the U.S. may use tariff dollars to improve domestic fertilizer supplies.
Agri-Pulse reported the Trump administration may spend billions of dollars to invest infrastructure and reshore fertilizer production back into America, citing Rollins’ comments during a recent House Appropriations subcommittee budget hearing.
Rollins told the media she hosted a lengthy meeting recently with fertilizer company executives, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.
According to FarmWeekNow's Tammie Sloup, Rollins projected fertilizer costs would go back down after the war with Iran ends, but the federal government is still working with fertilizer companies to address cost challenges.
Rollins was quoted by Sloup as saying the USDA identified funding to begin investing in capacity but that was not a solution to the short-term crunch.
The statements come after the USDA sharply criticized The Mosaic Co. last week over its decision to idle mining in Brazil, potentially worsening supply chain shortages.
In March, news emerged of two federal lawsuits been filed by farmers accusing several fertilizer companies of conspiring to illegally keep prices high over the last several years.
The lawsuits come at a time when the U.S. Department of Justice and USDA promised scrutiny of fertilizer monopolies, and as security problems in the Strait of Hormuz near Iran has led to an increasing in fertilizer prices.
AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported the USDA is shifting the conversation from broad discussions about market conditions to companies being pressed specifically to identify projects that could increase supply, “and to explain why those investments have not yet materialized.”
