Baker City herald., July 21, 2022, Page 43, Image 43

Inlation:
Continued from Page 5
It took one year, six months and 20 days
for the majority of fertilizer prices fi nally to
be lower, DTN noted.
Important fertilizers doubled from the
fi rst week of May 2021 to 2022, reported
DTN. Anhydrous ammonia reached an all-
time high of $1,534 per ton in April, stayed
the same in May and fell slightly in June.
Urea also hit a record of $1,031 per ton in
April, dropped to $1,001 in May and further
in June. Anhydrous was barely above $400
in September 2020, but zoomed upward
more than 250% in less than two years.
Fertilizer infl ation has outpaced even
gasoline, diesel and natural gas price hikes.
Producing nitrogen fertilizers ammonia and
urea requires natural gas feedstock.
Russia and Ukraine have been among
major urea-exporting countries. The U.S.
was the third leading urea importer in 2019,
according to Statista. It imports nearly half
the urea it uses. The U.S. produced over 5.7
million metric tons in 2019, while importing
almost 4.9 tonnes, for 46%, the U.N.’s Food
and Agriculture Organization reported.
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Transport costs escalating
Infl ation cuts into farm revenue at every
step of the process, Ward said, including after
harvest.
He said the cost of shipping wheat, for
instance, which last year was about $1 per
bushel, this year could reach $2 or $2.50.
“The cost of getting your crop to market is
going to be huge” this year, Ward said.
Getting that crop in the ground was more
expensive this year as well.
Ward said the cost to procure seed potatoes
from Eastern Idaho for the previous three to
four years was about $12 to $13 per hundred-
weight, plus $2 per hundredweight for freight,
for a total of about $14 to $15.
This year the seed potatoes went for $15
per hundredweight, and the freight charge was
$5 per hundredweight.
Infl ation is also aff ecting products that are
less obvious than fuel, seed potatoes and ship-
ping costs, but are also necessary, Phillips said.
He said he uses a product, xylene, that pre-
vents moss and algae from accumulating in
irrigation ditches and blocking the water fl ow.
Phillips said the price of xylene has risen
by 50% over the past year, from $12 per gal-
lon to $18.
See Infl ation, Page 21
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