A growing number of lawmakers, farm groups and farmers are pleading for assistance from still surging fertilizer prices.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held two meetings recently with her Democrats to come up with ways to temper gasoline prices ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections.
President Joe Biden and his top White House officials have asked the Cabinet for options regarding their stakeholders.
One possibility for USDA would be to tap the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act, the so-called ATM machine for aggies. One source asked: Would any fertilizer aid come in time to impact corn plantings?
Another contact asks: Is it a pricing issue or an availability issue? What about all those farmers that purchased and applied their fertilizer in the fall? Would they get retro payments? Why reward some that have poor planning?
Bottom line: The Biden administration is already planning on asking railroads to accelerate the delivery of fertilizer supplies. Sources say fertilizer supplies are out there in the countryside. The big attention will be on the eastern Corn Belt where they didn’t get as much fall fertilization done due to moisture. And the planting window is not going to open nearly as quickly in the eastern Belt (and west) as it did last year. Areas of the Midwest were in the 20s this morning and there has not been the soil temp warm up that is needed to get conditions improved to the point of being able to plant. Some around Champaign, Illinois were planting April 5 last year. Won’t happen this year. But of course, most farmers only remember last year.
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