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http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_9267888
Fertilizer prices squeezing farmers
Thursday May 15, 2008
By STEVE SNYDER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
With corn prices over $6 a bushel, times have never been better for farmers.
Then again, with the cost of doing business rising as well, maybe they have.
While everyone knows how much gasoline prices have risen — and diesel prices are even higher — few outside the farming community know how much fertilizer prices have spiked in the past year.
Daryl Alger, who operates AAA Farms with his son, Zach, in the Campbelltown area, said fertilizer is similar to oil in many respects. Much of both is imported, and prices are driven by commodities speculators. There’s increased demand from overseas competition.
“Asian countries are gobbling this stuff up,” he said. “It’s all imported. A lot of it comes from Africa.”
Alger said his year-over-year trailer-load fertilizer prices include:
• Liquid nitrogen, up 49 percent from $5,600 in 2007 to $8,320 this year.
• Phosphorus, up 86 percent from $14,800 to $27,500.
• Potash, up 120 percent from $5,800 to $12,750.
Those are the three basic ingredients for corn production.
“We’ll use 60 trailer loads a year of liquid nitrogen,” Alger said. “And that’s all up-front money. It’s investing for the future.”
Alger picks up his fertilizer in Baltimore, and the cost of diesel fuel for a round trip is $500 to $700.
Dairy farmer Ammon Peiffer has cut back on his fertilizer use and changed his strategy.
“This year we lessened the rate in the spring and will come back in summer and side dress,” said Peiffer, who farms in South Annville Township. “That splits up the big bills in the spring and gives you a chance to see what the weather’s going to do. If you put it all down in the spring and it dries up, you wasted your money.”
He’s also using more poultry manure; his sister raises chickens.
“That market has really gotten tight, too,” Peiffer noted of manure.
Dale Maulfair, who has 175 head of cattle, said he’ll try “to rely on manure a little more.”
The top-dress fertilizer he uses on his grain fields has risen from $355 to $437 a ton, and the cost his hauler charges to bring it to his Bethel Township farm spiked from $8 a ton to $40 a ton in the past year.
Maulfair said he’s trying to be more precise in his applications.
“It makes you want to make sure you don’t get too much on,” he said. “As long as petroleum keeps going up, everything else will go up.”
Peiffer, like many other local farmers, is doing more no-till farming to reduce his costs. No-till doesn’t disturb the soil as much as traditional farming does.
“Driving around, I see more no-till than ever,” said Peiffer, who grows wheat, corn, beans and alfalfa.
“Costs are killing us,” said John Bray, an extension agent with the Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Lebanon office who runs his own farm. He cited diesel fuel, seed prices, fertilizer and plastic price hikes.
“We’re like everyday consumers,” he said. “So much of this is caused by commodity trading. There’s a supply-and-demand factor with it, too.”
Bray said farmers are trying to be more efficient in an effort to save money.
“Right now, the biggest thing is risk management,” he said. “Everyone has to be a smarter manager to survive.”
He himself just hopes to stay on the plus side of the ledger.
“The farmer is the eternal optimist,” he said.
Peiffer summarized how many farmers feel. Nonfarmers see crop prices rising, he explained, but there is much more to farming than that.
“Everyone thinks farmers are getting rich,” he said. “We’re just turning over more money.”
http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_9267888
Fertilizer prices squeezing farmers
Thursday May 15, 2008
By STEVE SNYDER
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
With corn prices over $6 a bushel, times have never been better for farmers.
Then again, with the cost of doing business rising as well, maybe they have.
While everyone knows how much gasoline prices have risen — and diesel prices are even higher — few outside the farming community know how much fertilizer prices have spiked in the past year.
Daryl Alger, who operates AAA Farms with his son, Zach, in the Campbelltown area, said fertilizer is similar to oil in many respects. Much of both is imported, and prices are driven by commodities speculators. There’s increased demand from overseas competition.
“Asian countries are gobbling this stuff up,” he said. “It’s all imported. A lot of it comes from Africa.”
Alger said his year-over-year trailer-load fertilizer prices include:
• Liquid nitrogen, up 49 percent from $5,600 in 2007 to $8,320 this year.
• Phosphorus, up 86 percent from $14,800 to $27,500.
• Potash, up 120 percent from $5,800 to $12,750.
Those are the three basic ingredients for corn production.
“We’ll use 60 trailer loads a year of liquid nitrogen,” Alger said. “And that’s all up-front money. It’s investing for the future.”
Alger picks up his fertilizer in Baltimore, and the cost of diesel fuel for a round trip is $500 to $700.
Dairy farmer Ammon Peiffer has cut back on his fertilizer use and changed his strategy.
“This year we lessened the rate in the spring and will come back in summer and side dress,” said Peiffer, who farms in South Annville Township. “That splits up the big bills in the spring and gives you a chance to see what the weather’s going to do. If you put it all down in the spring and it dries up, you wasted your money.”
He’s also using more poultry manure; his sister raises chickens.
“That market has really gotten tight, too,” Peiffer noted of manure.
Dale Maulfair, who has 175 head of cattle, said he’ll try “to rely on manure a little more.”
The top-dress fertilizer he uses on his grain fields has risen from $355 to $437 a ton, and the cost his hauler charges to bring it to his Bethel Township farm spiked from $8 a ton to $40 a ton in the past year.
Maulfair said he’s trying to be more precise in his applications.
“It makes you want to make sure you don’t get too much on,” he said. “As long as petroleum keeps going up, everything else will go up.”
Peiffer, like many other local farmers, is doing more no-till farming to reduce his costs. No-till doesn’t disturb the soil as much as traditional farming does.
“Driving around, I see more no-till than ever,” said Peiffer, who grows wheat, corn, beans and alfalfa.
“Costs are killing us,” said John Bray, an extension agent with the Penn State Cooperative Extension’s Lebanon office who runs his own farm. He cited diesel fuel, seed prices, fertilizer and plastic price hikes.
“We’re like everyday consumers,” he said. “So much of this is caused by commodity trading. There’s a supply-and-demand factor with it, too.”
Bray said farmers are trying to be more efficient in an effort to save money.
“Right now, the biggest thing is risk management,” he said. “Everyone has to be a smarter manager to survive.”
He himself just hopes to stay on the plus side of the ledger.
“The farmer is the eternal optimist,” he said.
Peiffer summarized how many farmers feel. Nonfarmers see crop prices rising, he explained, but there is much more to farming than that.
“Everyone thinks farmers are getting rich,” he said. “We’re just turning over more money.”