Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin joined several colleagues in introducing a bill designed to provide more transparency in fertilizer pricing. Baldwin said fertilizer prices have risen rapidly since the war began in Iran.
“Right now, I don’t have to tell any farmers about the price that they’re seeing for fertilizer. It’s 25 percent, and that is in no small part because of President Trump’s war with Iran. About one-third of all the world’s fertilizer passes through the Straits of Hormuz, and since the attacks on that shipping lane, we’ve seen these prices just skyrocket.”
She talked about the proposed legislation.
“The transparency legislation that we’re talking about, and by the way, this is strong, bipartisan legislation, would bring greater visibility into our fertilizer market. It would provide farmers with access to information about supply, pricing, and market trends updated on a weekly basis through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We think that’s so important, because knowledge allows you to plan, and right now, that’s sorely lacking in this market.”
Baldwin said farmers don’t have a way to compare prices or research market trends.
“Yeah, right now, farmers have very little insight into how prices are determined, and with this legislation, we’re basically going to be lifting the veil back and giving farmers some additional certainty, while also creating some real competition. And that’s, of course, another issue here. When there’s no transparency, there’s no sense of competition. The competition lowers costs too, so it’s just another important issue.”