UK Farmers Face Running Out Of Fertilizer - Prices Have Already Doubled Since 2007

[hatrack]

A SHORTAGE of fertiliser threatens to hit farm production this year. The price has doubled in 12 months and products are in short supply, with manufacturers and distributors unable to say when things will improve.

“We can’t get any,” said Graham Hughes, general manager of Carmarthen and Pumsaint Farmers. “In a normal year we would expect to be selling at least 8,000 tonnes by the end of April. “We’ve had nothing for over a week and the last delivery we had was only 300 tonnes, which we sold to six farmers straight away.”

Clunderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers arable general manager Richard Carlisle said the company still had some stock, but it was becoming a problem. He said, “We have not yet run out but it’s heading that way and the price will be inhibitive for people to actually use it.”

Mr Carlisle said the standard 20/10/10 grade was selling at £160 a tonne at the start of the season last October. Now it is nearly £300. “There is a world shortage and we could potentially run out completely in the UK,” he said.

EDIT

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/countryside-farming-news/farming-news/2008/02/05/fertiliser-famine-threats-to-hit-harvests-91466-20434884/

[damntexdem]

1. If they need fertilizer, all they have to do is to ...

watch the GOP debates on U.S. television.

[NickB79]

2. If a country like the UK is experiencing fertilizer shortages

How long before we begin to feel the same pinch here in the US?

[Tashca]

7. It's already here.

Bulk Potash price in October was $290.00 per ton....today $575.00

Phosphorous jumped from $450.00 in Oct.....today $730.00

Anhydrous Ammonia $490.00 in Oct.....today $740.00

This is midwestern U.S.

[amandabeech]

10. Ouch! n/t

[diane in sf]

3. Maybe it's time to start composting their organic waste. San Francisco does this.

[depakid]

4. Not only that, but they're being bled dry by the likes of Tesco

[GliderGuider]

5. This seems like a good place to re-post this price projection

It's for the USA, so the trend for the UK is probably going to be steeper.



A price increase of 600% by mid-century actually seems quite conservative to me, given the implications of Peak Gas.

[DCKit]

6. Give the Republicans three more terms...

And we'll be able to condense ammonia directly from the atmosphere. Problem solved. Sure, breathing will be a bitch, but do you want to eat or breathe? Don't be a pussy.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. This chart may become wildly inaccurate

Ammonia requires a hefty input of energy to produce. And if the demand for it increases, the price will increase even more steeply.

The nitrogen source of the future may be beans, or GMOs that fix their own airborne nitrogen.

--p!

[GliderGuider]

9. I agree

I suspect that we're going to go through a period (maybe starting around 2010?) where ammonia prices double every couple of years. That curve would be truly awe-inspiring.