Fertiliser Price Surge Forces Farmer to Rethink Planting
A farmer has expressed that the rising cost of fertiliser has made it more profitable to sell his existing stock rather than use it to cultivate crops.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has contributed to increased fertiliser prices, as approximately one-third of the world's essential fertiliser chemicals transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Olly Harrison, a farmer based in Tarbock, Merseyside, shared that he purchased his fertiliser at a favorable price last year. However, due to a combination of a wet and cold spring, fewer remaining growing days, and high diesel costs for machinery, he now believes it may be financially wiser not to plant.
"We'd actually make more money selling it than putting it on the crop that it was intended for,"
"And to replace that fertiliser would cost a lot of money and I will have to buy some for next year's crops."
Mr. Harrison noted that he acquired his current fertiliser supply last June at around £340 per tonne.
"We've had a cold spring and a wet spring and we've still got some corn not in the ground,"
Limited Growing Season and Rising Costs
He explained the challenges posed by the shortened growing season.
"If you're thinking that you may be getting 100 days to grow a crop in the spring and we're probably already 30 days late, we're down to 70 days worth of growing that crop.
"So, putting fertiliser on it won't help because there's just not enough daylight hours.
"And then having the expense of diesel putting the crop in the ground, and then hoping that we're going to get the perfect weather to get a crop off it anyway... you start to think, is this worth doing?"
Dependence on Imported Fertiliser
Olly Harrison, who represents the fifth generation of his family farming on the site, highlighted the impact of local industry changes on his operations.
"After the closure of a fertiliser factory in nearby Wirral about three years ago I had become 'completely at the mercy of imported fertiliser just to grow crops'."
He further elaborated on how global events have affected input costs.
"Each time there is turmoil in the world, whether it's when it kicked off in Ukraine and Russia or some of the fallout from Covid with expensive machinery, it just, effects the input costs and the cost to grow food now,"
"It's just getting out of control."
Mr. Harrison also described the financial uncertainty inherent in farming today.
"Every year of farming, it seems like double or quits.
"We feel like we're gambling all the time and the stakes keep getting higher."
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