Nitrogen

FTC Launches Formal Investigation Into Fertilizer Industry as Farmers Say They're 'Fed Up'

Thu, 28 May 2026 18:54:54 GMT

The Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday it has formally launched a sweeping investigation into fertilizer pricing and market concentration, marking the most significant federal scrutiny of the fertilizer industry in years and giving farmers hope that long-running concerns over soaring input costs and limited competition may finally face legal examination.

Speaking before farmers gathered on a North Texas farm, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson announced the commission had already initiated a “major industry-wide investigation” into fertilizer prices, citing USDA data showing fertilizer has delivered the largest increase in production costs for U.S. farmers since 2020.

“These continued price increases are not something our nation, much less our farmers, can continue to ignore,” Ferguson says.

FTC Chairman Ferguson just announced an investigation into the fertilizer industry following continued advocacy from Iowa Corn. Thank you to him and the FTC for listening to corn farmers feeling the impact across the country. We look forward to continuing to keep the pressure on. pic.twitter.com/YT0sWA32kB
— Iowa Corn (@iowa_corn) May 28, 2026

For farmers attending the event, the announcement drew a standing ovation. After years of frustration, congressional testimony and criticism of the fertilizer industry, the FTC’s move marks the first formal federal investigation with subpoena power and the potential for antitrust enforcement if wrongdoing is uncovered.

“We’re highly encouraged,” South Dakota farmer Trent Kubik told Farm Journal following the announcement. “This is something we’ve looked forward to for a long time. We’ve heard a lot of talk from this administration, which has been nice because they’ve really looked into fertilizer and other anticompetitive issues in agriculture. But now we finally have some action.”

Kubik says Thursday’s announcement signals that the federal government is beginning to take farmer concerns seriously.

“We finally have an investigation announced today that can look into whether there’s antitrust behavior happening and whether something can finally be done about it,” he adds.

Farmers Say Fertilizer Prices No Longer Reflect Market Fundamentals

The FTC investigation centers on concerns surrounding fertilizer market concentration and pricing practices among major fertilizer manufacturers including Mosaic, Nutrien, CF Industries and Koch.

Farmers attending the event argued fertilizer prices have remained historically elevated long after the supply chain shocks of 2021 and 2022 eased, even as commodity prices and farm profitability declined.

According to organizers, fertilizer prices have risen more than 150% since 2020, while net farm income has fallen sharply from recent highs.

Thank you to @FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson for announcing an investigation on fertilizer competition! This is a great first step towards true capitalism and uses the law to help family farmers.

South Dakota Corn board members joined farmers and agricultural leaders from across… pic.twitter.com/hPAECLbTH9
— South Dakota Corn (@sdcorn) May 28, 2026

Kubik, a fourth-generation farmer from south-central South Dakota who grows corn, soybeans, small grains and cattle feed, said fertilizer costs have fundamentally changed the economics of farming over the last five years.

“We were paying $200 to $300 a ton for urea in 2020. That jumped to over $900 a ton in 2022 when corn prices were high. And at least back then, corn prices were also elevated, so there was somewhat of a relationship there,” he says.

But Kubik adds that relationship has since disappeared, heightening the scrutiny of the fertilizer industry and pricing.

“Now we’re still sitting at $700 to $800 fertilizer, and the price of corn has not gone up,” he says. “There’s no correlation anymore. That’s what’s leaving us with very few answers and very little control in the situation.”

Kubik adds the persistence of high fertilizer prices has forced many farmers to rethink purchasing decisions and cash flow strategies.

“I held off buying a lot of fertilizer this year because, at the time, it just did not make economic sense to buy at those levels,” Kubik explains. “I kept saying the math isn’t working out. Eventually it’s going to come down. But it just doesn’t.”

‘Fed Up’ Farmers Push Back Against Industry Concentration

The event itself carried a clear message for both regulators and fertilizer manufacturers. Behind the speakers hung a large sign reading: “Fed Up: Fertilizer Cartel Profits off Farmers’ Backs and Your Grocery Bill.” While the event was in Texas, it drew farmers from 18 states to attend, representing multiple commodities.

Kubik says no matter what crop you grow, the frustration over fertilizer has been building for years.

“The backdrop today said ‘Fed Up,’ and that’s exactly what we are,” he says. “We can understand maybe one year or two years of a price hike because of supply constraints or production issues. But this has gone on multiple years now, and it just doesn’t make sense anymore.”

Farmers also point to recent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East as an example of how global events continue to rapidly inflate fertilizer prices, even when domestic inventories appear unaffected.

“They use issues like the Strait of Hormuz closing to jump up fertilizer that’s already here in this country. It didn’t come through the Strait of Hormuz. But they use that excuse to jump the price. There’s just so little control,” Kubik says.

The South Dakota farmer says he and other farmers hope the FTC investigation sends a strong message to fertilizer companies that their business practices are finally being scrutinized.

“I hope this is kind of a shot across the bow to tell them we don’t like the way they operate and the way they treat us as customers,” Kubik adds. “Their increased profits again and again and again are on our backs while our income is not in the green — it’s in the red.”

Farmers Want Competition, Not Government-Controlled Prices

While many farmers attending the event called for aggressive federal oversight, Kubik emphasizes producers are not asking the government to dictate fertilizer prices. Instead, he says farmers’ wants are simple: to get back to transparent and competitive markets.

“We obviously don’t want the federal government dictating our prices or anything like that, but the federal government does have a role to play here to make sure our markets are free and fair,” he says.

Kubik adds market concentration within the fertilizer industry has left farmers with few alternatives when prices rise.

“There are so few fertilizer manufacturers, which means there’s just not a lot of competition,” he says. “Right now it kind of emulates what it used to be like before we formed this country where we were under king control. Now we’re under the king control of monopolies.”

Kubik says farmers believe increasing competition could help stabilize prices over time, and he points specifically to phosphate imports, where he argues trade barriers are limiting supply options.

“There’s a countervailing duty on imported phosphate right now,” Kubik says. “When that duty went on back in 2021, my phosphorus fertilizer went up and really hasn’t come back down to sustainable levels.”

Kubik also says the U.S. has the resources necessary to expand domestic nitrogen production if permitting and regulatory hurdles were eased.

“We have cheap natural gas here. We can make nitrogen here,” he points out. “We just need to reduce the roadblocks to put new plants in and expedite permitting so we can entice more competition into this market.”

Farmers From 18 States Gathered in Texas

The event brought together farmers and commodity leaders from across the country, including producers representing corn, soybeans, cotton, rice and wheat.

“This wasn’t just corn growers. There were rice farmers, cotton farmers, soybean farmers, wheat farmers. This affects all of us equally,” Kubik says.

The South Dakota farmer credited Texas Corn and other state commodity organizations for helping bring national attention to the issue.

“Texas Corn has done a ton of work on this,” he says on why it was important to host the event in Texas. “But this issue is widespread, and we wanted to make that known.”

In addition to launching the investigation, the FTC emphasized Thursday that it would protect the confidentiality of anyone participating in the inquiry and encouraged individuals with relevant information to come forward.

“We appreciate the opportunity to share the on-the-ground reality farmers are experiencing,” says Lance Lillibridge, Iowa farmer and former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “We’re grateful Chairman Ferguson and the FTC came to Texas, listened to our farmers and took action. Now we need that investigation to follow the evidence wherever it leads.”

Thursday’s announcement does not immediately lower fertilizer bills heading into another difficult farm economy. But after years of sounding alarms about fertilizer costs, Kubik says many farmers left Texas feeling like progress had finally been made.

“We wish this would have happened five years ago before this issue became really challenging, but we’re really glad it’s happening now,” Kubik says.

A new complaint inbox for the investigation has also been set up. If you would like to file a complaint, send an email to fertilizercomplaints@ftc.gov .

Administration Targets Both Long-Term Supply and Immediate Fertilizer Movement

The FTC investigation also comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration to address fertilizer affordability through both long-term production expansion and short-term supply chain relief.

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled a sweeping federal strategy aimed at rebuilding domestic fertilizer production and reducing America’s dependence on foreign suppliers. The effort includes accelerating fertilizer manufacturing projects, streamlining permitting, expanding supply chains and coordinating policy across multiple federal agencies.

The initiative involves USDA, the Department of Energy, EPA, Department of Commerce, Treasury Department, State Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in what administration officials described as an “all-of-government” approach to fertilizer policy.

Among the key announcements was the fast-tracking of permits for the $3.7 billion Blue Point ammonia facility in Louisiana, which could become the world’s largest ammonia plant by 2029 if completed as planned.

The administration also announced plans to revive and restructure USDA’s Fertilizer Production Expansion Program, helping stalled fertilizer projects move forward while encouraging additional domestic nitrogen and phosphate production capacity.

Then this week, the administration announced additional emergency steps aimed at easing fertilizer transportation bottlenecks during the busy application season.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Rollins announced a new 90-day waiver suspending hours-of-service limits and electronic logging device requirements for fertilizer transport in 35 states.

Speaking at a Pennsylvania farm, Rollins said President Trump has activated his entire Cabinet to address both the short- and long-term availability and affordability of fertilizer.

According to USDA, more than 50% of all fertilizer tonnage moves by truck, while every ton of fertilizer transported in the U.S. travels by truck at some point in the supply chain.

The Scoop Podcast: From Dairy Waste to Organic Gold, The Rise of BenVireo TerraLux

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:51:50 GMT

BenVireo TerraLux is a new product that checks just about every box for organic growers says Gina Colfer, sustainable solutions agronomy manager at Wilbur-Ellis.

“Our solutions really are focused on helping the grower be more efficient with their ag inputs,” she says. “So we really are focused in trying to find products that help growers farm more holistically and sustainably and efficiently.”

And The Scoop readers agree that BenVireo TerraLux is an example of that as they recently voted it as runner-up in The Scoop’s 19th annual New Product of the Year contest for 2025. Read more about that here.

As Colfer explains, BenVireo TerraLux gives organic growers looking for high-efficiency nitrogen solutions across a wide range of crops (specialty vegetables, nuts, fruit, and row crops). It’s a novel form of organic nitrogen consisting of 50% ammonium and 50% nitrate, which is biologically derived from a true waste stream—dairy lagoon effluent.

It’s filtered down to 1 micron; neutral pH (~7.0); low salt index, so it can be applied via drip irrigation, micro-sprinklers, foliar applications, and drone applications.

According to Colfer, four factors distinguish this product from traditional organic fertilizers:

Immediate Plant Availability: Unlike most organic nitrogen sources that require time to mineralize in the soil, BenVireo TerraLux provides 100% plant-available nitrogen. It bypasses the “guessing game” of soil mineralization, allowing for precise “spoon-feeding” during peak demand.
No Biofilm or Clogging: With a 0:1 carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, the product contains no carbon to feed microbial biofilm. This prevents the common issue of clogged drip tapes and tanks associated with organic liquids.
Improved Handling & Odor: BenVireo TerraLux has a mild, non-offensive ammonia scent and is significantly easier to handle and is a selling point.
Sustainability Profile: It transforms a problematic waste stream (dairy effluent) into a high-value input. The process also creates a secondary byproduct—a 4-4-2 dry crumble fertilizer—ensuring nearly total utilization of the raw material.

Fertilizer Bargains

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 05:31:33 GMT

How do you spell relief? For many farmers, it’s the current about-face in fertilizer prices.

Bruce Erickson, Purdue University economist, expects 2010 corn fertilizer prices to be reduced by one-third for nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), compared with 2009. The percentage discount could be even more for potassium/potash (K) considering current prices.

“Depending on when fertilizers were purchased, some farmers may have spent $200 per acre or more to fertilize their 2009 crop, more than rent in some cases when you consider N, P and K replacement and any liming requirements,” Erickson says.

“By comparison, our budget projections for 2010 put corn fertilizer expense in the $100 to $130 per acre range, depending on soils and crop rotation,” he adds.

Fertilizer prices reflect market conditions, and supply and demand factors will differ among nutrients, says Harry Vroomen, vice president of economic services at the Fertilizer Institute.

N, which is produced predominantly from natural gas, is typically the most price-sensitive to changes in energy costs. “U.S. nitrogen production capacity has declined by 42% since 1999 as domestic natural gas prices increased by about 300%,” Vroomen says.

“Imports now account for more than half of our total nitrogen supply. Overall, 56% of U.S. nitrogen fertilizer came from other countries in fiscal year 2007/08,” he says.

“A weaker dollar translates into higher prices because it raises the cost of the fertilizer we import and it makes the fertilizer we export less expensive for foreign countries, which means they purchase more fertilizer from the U.S. than they would if the dollar were stronger. The higher demand for fertilizer exports from these purchases results in higher domestic prices.”

Vroomen attributes the fertilizer price decline, which began at the end of 2008, predominantly to a drop in domestic and world nutrient demand. Declining natural gas and diesel fuel prices and lower ocean freight rates have also contributed. Lower retail fertilizer prices lagged wholesale prices because material purchased by retailers at higher prices had to work through the system.

Look ahead. University of Nebraska soil specialist Gary Hergert says it appears farmers purchased less N, quite a bit less P and significantly less K in 2009. “Farmers know they need N year in and out, but figure they can draw on P and K reserves for a while.

“Fertilizer prices should be a bargain compared to past years, but you will still need to comparison shop,” Hergert says. “It may be a challenge to get soil test results this year because of the late corn harvest. Soil P and K levels do not change rapidly, so you can use historic field averages [if you have yearly samples] as a guideline.”

Here’s what Hergert sees on the horizon for prices for 2010:

Nitrogen. World urea prices slid to 2006 levels and have slightly rebounded with New Orleans urea prices off the ship recently trading for $320 per ton. Hergert says urea in western Nebraska is $400 to $470 per ton (43¢ per pound to 51¢ per pound N).

“The best nitrogen buy is ammonia,” Hergert says. “The late corn harvest created high inventories.” In January, ammonia fob in the Corn Belt was running $350 per ton to $400 per ton. Panhandle growers saw $435 per ton to $480 per ton, Hergert says. N solution (32%) ranged from $205 per ton to $290 per ton in western Nebraska.

Hergert suggests looking hard at the N sources you use to see if changes could benefit profitability. Ammonia is expected to be a good buy and N solution prices are even lower than urea.

“The Chinese are expected to lower N export tariffs, and the Russians have opened a new facility to load supertankers with ammonia, which provides competition for world markets,” Her-gert adds. However, Vroomen says the reluctance of railroads to move anhydrous domestically is adversely impacting rail rates in some regions.

Phosphorus. Prices for diammonium phosphate (18-46-0) more than quadrupled in 2008 before falling back to 2006 levels this past spring. Hergert says prices are running under $330 per ton fob at many Corn Belt locations. He finds prices of 18-46-0 and 11-52-0 comparable in western Nebraska, in the $400 to $480 per ton range.

“If soil P levels are low, this may be a good building year,” he says. “Strip-till or zone placement of P at 3" to 5" below the soil surface should perform similar to row application.” In neutral pH ranges (6.8 to 7.3), P broadcast and incorporation is still a good option.

Potash. Canada holds the cards in the potash market. “Manufacturers watched what was going on in the phosphate market as they were deciding how to price potash last spring,” Hergert says. “When lower prices for phosphate did not stimulate sales in late winter 2009, they decided they would keep the potash price constant at $800 per metric ton. Eventually, that decision held down potash sales and prices have since dropped to $400 per metric ton or less.”

You can e-mail Pam Smith at psmith@farmjournal.com .

Scientists Find Possibility of Nitrogen-Fixing Corn

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 05:54:00 GMT

At a towering 16’ tall, corn native to Oaxaca, Mexico grows up to 10 aerial roots [compared to two in a typical plant] that secrete gel to help nitrogen-fixing bacteria survive. If scientists find a way to make this commercially available, it could be a game-changer for corn grown for grain and silage.

The corn has been tested in Mexico and Madison, Wisconsin. The gel secreted by aerial roots allows corn to fix nitrogen by excluding oxygen and providing sugars to the ‘right’ bacteria, according to a recent University of Wisconsin press release .

“It took us eight years of work to convince ourselves that this was not an artifact,” said Jean-Michel Ané, professor of bacteriology and agronomy and University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-author of the study. “Technique after technique, they’re all giving the same result showing high levels of nitrogen fixation in this corn.

“What I think is cool about this project is it completely turns upside down the way we think about engineering nitrogen fixation,” Ané added.

Corn with this capability can acquire 30% to 80% of the nitrogen it needs through fixation. Humidity and rain control just how much or little nitrogen the plant gains. More research is needed to determine if this trait can be bred into commercial corn cultivars.

Found in the Sierra Mixe region of southern Mexico, soil is nitrogen-depleted, and farmers use little to no fertilizer. These conditions have selected for corn’s ability to acquire nitrogen. Researchers used five different techniques to confirm the corn gel is in fact fixing nitrogen from the air that the corn can incorporate into its own tissue.

“This corn showed us that nature can find solutions to some problems far beyond what scientists could ever imagine,” Ané said. “The scientific community probably underestimated nitrogen fixation in other crops because of its obsession with root nodules.”

This research is a collaboration between University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of California, Davis and Mars, Inc.