An ag economist says farmers are planning to cut fertilizer expenses despite the continued downtrend in costs.
Gary Schnitkey with the University of Illinois says Illinois fertilizer prices have been declining since 2008.
“Anhydrous ammonia in December is projected at $650 per ton, or that’s what the price was in December. That’s down from last year and overall that will lead to lower fertilizer costs per acre.”
He says based on price movements, fertilizer could be $10 to $15 lower per acre than the year before.
Schnitkey says lower natural gas prices are helping to lower the cost of nitrogen fertilizers. But he says he expects fertilizer to be a prime area that gets cut by farmers next year.
“We’ve probably built up soil test levels over the past several years with higher incomes. Now we’re going to see if we really need those phosphorus and potassium higher fertilizer application levels or if we can cut it.”
In his December Illinois fertilizer price report, Schnitkey reports there wasn’t a downtrend seen in fertilizer use. But he says reductions in application rates are coming.
Source: www.brownfieldagnews.com