Posted on 04/29/2022 2:56:14 PM PDT by blam
Soaring prices for industrial fertilizer have forced one of Brazil’s largest farmers to initiate plans to reduce nutrient spreading on fields by at least a quarter in 2022-23, according to Bloomberg.
SLC Agricola SA, which manages soybeans, corn, and cotton fields in an area larger than the state of Delaware, will reduce the use of fertilizer by 20% and 25%, Chief Executive Officer Aurelio Pavinato said.
Pavinato’s planned reduction of fertilizer comes as prices have soared to record highs due to shortages stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said fewer nutrients won’t necessarily affect crop production yet.
“It’s possible to cut fertilizers in a year and have a null impact on production,” he said in an interview, adding there are fertilizer reserves in the soil from previous seasons.
SLC’s decision to reduce fertilizer on fields is a prime example of how farmers worldwide are coping with high prices and shortages. Some farmers are switching to crops that need less fertilizer.
Even though Pavinato doesn’t think harvests will be affected in the near term. The prospect of lower yields is a significant concern among ag traders and continues to push global food prices to record highs.
CBoT trader Tommy Grisafi (also risk advisor at commodity trading firm Advance Trading Inc.) said, “fertilizer supply issues will remain a problem for a few years and will soon result in declining yield production of crops in some of the world’s top growing regions.”
Grisafi warned: “It’s not if, it’s when.”
The news from Brazil is very alarming because 80% of the country’s farmland is very reliant on fertilizers, and more than 85% of its fertilizer is imported from abroad (susceptible to disruptions).
Brazil is also a top ag exporter of coffee, sugar, soybeans, manioc, rice, maize, cotton, edible beans, and wheat. If future harvests decline because of less fertilizer usage, this could then exacerbate the global food crisis that the Rockefeller Foundation expects to hit “in the next six months.”
It might be a perfect time to plant a garden and become more independent as cracks in the global food supply chain emerge.
U.S. spring-wheat futures are nearing the highest level since 2008, as the Northern U.S. Plains are plagued with devastating floods that prevent farmers from planting in the high-producing crop region.
Blizzards, winter storms, high winds, and extreme flooding battered the Dakotas and stalled plantings in April, raising concerns about shrinking crop yields as prevent plant dates for North Dakota are at the end of May.
Welcome to North Dakota #flood2022
pic.twitter.com/DYrWqoHa4G
— AGBULL (@AgBullMedia) April 24, 2022
Because of wet conditions, farmers cannot work their fields, which means yields will decrease everyday wheat isn’t planted.
“The spring-wheat crop should continue to see planting delays with heavy rains, and cold weather in the forecast,” commodity research firm The Hightower Report said.
The most-active spring wheat futures contract increased more than a 1% to $12.02 a bushel, nearing March’s peak and closing in on the highest level since 2008. Prices have more than doubled since the virus pandemic low. $4.90.
Spring wheat is used in specialty items like rolls, croissants, bagels, and pizza crust. Money managers are holding a record net-long position due to supply fears following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global wheat production.
Compound the U.S. drought of 2021, the Ukraine crisis, and floods in the Northern U.S. Plains, the world is even more dependent on the Northern hemisphere for major food needs. If the U.S. experiences production woes this crop season, if that’s because of weather-related issues or simply not enough fertilizer, then there’s an increasing risk a global food crisis could become more pronounced by the end of the year or into the next.
Cauliflower pizza crust is okay.
SLC AGRICOLA SA Company Profile | DIAMANTINO, MATO GROSSO ...
Company Description: SLC AGRICOLA SA is located in DIAMANTINO, MATO GROSSO, Brazil and is part of the Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers Industry. There are 77 companies in the SLC AGRICOLA SA corporate family. FYI, I have never encountered more bugs (big, little, creepy, crawly, ugly)anywhere in the world than exist in Mato Grosso and the Gran Chaco.
Same deal here as Brazil. A farmer on Tucker’s daytime show said expect food prices to skyrocket in the 4th quarter.
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