June 2022 - 7

Logistics issues, including rising fertilizer costs and inflation's affect on inputs, are pressing growers.
Growers feel fertilizer, input cost crunch
By Doug Ohlemeier
Assistant Editor
Agriculture's tenuous relationship
with global events, increasing input
costs and competition posed by other
growing regions were brought into focus
at this year's Florida Agricultural Policy
Outlook Conference.
The March event at the University of
Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences' (UF/IFAS) Mid-Florida
Research and Education Center in
Apopka featured
economists
and researchers
discussing how
policy issues could
affect production.
A big issue
is fertilizer
costs. John Walt
Boatright, director
of national affairs
and interim
director of
state legislative
affairs for the Florida Farm Bureau,
said fertilizer costs and overall inflation
increases of input costs are the biggest
issues affecting growers. He discussed
a congressional effort to encourage the
Biden administration to implement certain
types of waivers on tariffs and other costs
associated with importing fertilizers.
" High fertilizer prices are massive
concerns for farmers, " said Boatright.
" Nitrogen fertilizers are way up because
of problems with gas suppliers, especially
in Europe. "
Nitrogen prices were so high that
at one point, many European Union
plants shut down, which undercut world
nitrogen fertilizer supplies and capacities.
Additionally, the former Soviet Union
used to require American help to feed
itself but is now a breadbasket.
" Things have gone very well in
agriculture for the last four years in terms
of the ability to grow and feed the world,
with so much stability and so much
growth, " said Boatright. " This year in
particular, even more than the last two
years, 2022 will probably need an asterisk,
as a reminder of how fragile things are.
There's the massive disruption of the world
ag system. This Ukrainian conflict is an
indication of how much we are on a razor's
edge in regard to the world's food security. "
J. Scott Angle, UF/IFAS vice president
for agriculture and natural resources,
reported that a favorable 2022 budget
and several initiatives should allow the
department to focus more on policy and
nutrient issues.
Angle discussed $8.8 million allocated
for research on nutrient application rates,
particular fertilizer recommendations,
on sweet corn, green beans, tomatoes
and potatoes with the intention of adding
other crops. The research will inform
regulators at the Florida Department of
Agricultural and Consumer Services to
update Best Management Practices in
agency user manuals, allowing growers to
J. SCOTT ANGLE
be more compliant.
" This is an area that absolutely needs
more policy input, " said Angle. " Policy is
what makes good science available. Policy
is what drives many of the solutions,
particularly in Florida. "
Other funding for research projects
includes $2.2 million for an ecosystem
services project designed to develop an
artificial intelligence tool to identify,
validate and quantify ecosystem services
delivered by Florida agricultural and
natural systems. Another $1.1 million
is slated to fund geomatics through an
undergraduate program in the study
of geospatial analysis That includes
surveying and mapping.
Zhengfei Guan, of UF/IFAS' Food
and Resource Economics Department at
the Gulf Coast Research and Education
Center in Balm, displayed data showing
how Mexico's rise in produce exports
to the U.S. affected Florida growers. He
noted how across the board, commodities
which once saw higher U.S. production
than Mexican imports have now reversed.
Florida's strawberry production, for
example, was once 220 million pounds
in total production capacity, three times
higher than imports. As with blueberries,
tomatoes, peppers and squash, the
situation is now the opposite, with
Mexican imports dominating supplies.
" Mexico is really the dominant player
with Mexican production almost a
one-direction trade, " he said. " The U.S.
fruit and vegetable industry is trending
down. We need to be aware of the
structural changes experienced by the
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VGN | JUNE 2022 | 7
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June 2022

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