TADEAS,
TADEAS,
TADEAS:
Global Fertilizer Shortage Sends Demand for Manure Soaringhttps://news.yahoo.com/global-fertilizer-shortage-sends-demand-160001632.htmlPrices of synthetic fertilizer, which rely on natural gas and coal as raw materials, have soared amid an energy shortage and export restrictions by Russia and China. That’s adding to challenges for agricultural supply chains at a time when global food costs are near a record high and farmers scramble for fertilizers to prevent losses to global crop yields for staples.
The Green Markets North American Fertilizer Price Index is hovering around an all-time high at $1,072.87 per short ton, while in China, spot urea has soared more than 200% this year to a record.
The demand for dung is playing out globally. In Iowa, manure is selling for between $40 to $70 per short ton, up about $10 from a year ago and the highest levels since 2012, according to Daniel Anderson, assistant professor at Iowa State University and a specialist on manure.
Manure is mostly a local market and truckloads won’t go further than 50 miles (80 kilometers), Anderson said. When crop, fertilizer and manure prices soared about a decade ago, more farmers reintroduced animals such as hogs and cattle onto their land, in part for their manure. That option could again be on farmers’ minds as fertilizer costs soar.
In Australia’s Queensland state, Brian Mclean, general manager of an organic fertilizer company, said that sales of his poultry manure compost are going through the roof. If interest keeps up at the same rate, people seeking ready-treated manure in the area would soon miss out.
“There wouldn’t be enough in total,” he said. In just the last few months he’s sold about 15,000 tons of the stuff, compared to around 2,000 tons the same time last year, though some of the renewed fervor has been driven by a bounce-back in weather conditions after years of drought, Mclean added.
In the U.K., not only are farmers scrambling for animal compost, but many are even trying to get their hands on treated sewage sludge containing human excrement, or biosolids. David Butler, who farms wheat, oats and peas in Wiltshire in the southwest of England, has traditionally relied on his own herd of cows to produce animal waste that he uses for his crops.