High input costs continue to be a concern for farmers across the country. The USDA is working with multiple agencies to address the issue. Sam Kieffer is the CEO of the National Wheat Growers Association.
“The International Trade Commission is sitting right now on a process of whether or not the countervailing duties of phosphate imports from Russia and Morocco should continue to be in place. We are arguing they should not. Over the last five years, we believe that the countervailing duties, or the tariff, or the tax on phosphates from Russia and Morocco have increased costs for wheat growers alone by just shy of one billion dollars. A billion dollars for wheat growers? That’s a lot of money, particularly when you’ve got very tight margins. If you split a billion dollars across all growers, assuming everything’s equal, over five years, that’s probably about 20 dollars an acre. That could have made the difference between red and black ink for a couple years.
After having already taken several steps this week, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration will continue working to ease fertilizer costs for farmers.