Looking to upgrade your garden with a durable evergreen shrub that provides year-round interest and doesn’t require the backbreaking labor of higher-maintenance plants, such as roses or hedges?Look no further than heavenly bamboo.We link to
06.06.2023 - 15:59 / modernfarmer.com
On a small vegetable farm in Georgia, Shad Dasher used to grow watermelons every year.
Last year, he didn’t plant any.
Dasher, 56, said it was because of elevated fertilizer prices. Like many farmers, Dasher is finding it hard to stay afloat. “The American public just doesn’t understand what kind of beating our group (of farmers) has been taking over the years,” he said.
Although fertilizer prices have fallen from their all-time high in March 2022, when they spiked up to 3.5 times higher than two years before, the commodity is likely to remain costly for some time, continuing to squeeze the food production system.
Meanwhile, the fertilizer industry has yielded record profits. Canada-based Nutrien Ltd., the world’s leading producer of potash fertilizer, saw profits increase 1575 percent between 2020 and 2022, to $7.7 billion. Florida-based Mosaic Co., one of the largest US producers of potash and phosphate fertilizer, netted $3.6 billion in 2022, a 438 percent increase from 2020. CF Industries, an Illinois-based fertilizer company, made $3.2 billion in 2022, a 955 percent increase from 2020.
The eye-popping figures have heightened concerns about consolidation in the fertilizer industry, even as the Biden Administration moves to boost domestic fertilizer production.
When asked for comment, Mosaic said in an email that the fertilizer business is cyclical and thus has volatility in prices. CF Industries did not respond to requests for comment. Nutrien did not provide a statement by press time.
Global disruptions help drive up pricesThere are a few clear reasons for the recent record fertilizer prices. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused disruptions to the supply chain and labor shortages that hindered
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When the wildfires descended on his Nova Scotia farm last month, Peter Sutherland wasn’t surprised. Drought conditions had turned the land and foliage in Shelburne County—normally lush in late May—to kindling. The fires were all that the locals were talking about for days, and the ashy smoke that billowed across the skies was soon followed by flames visible from Sutherland’s Wild Blueberry U-Pick in Clyde River, along the province’s southwestern tip, two and a half hours from the capital of Halifax. Yet he was still caught off guard when the message came: Evacuate immediately.
While there are many scientific ways and gadgets to determine your soil quality, they can either be a little time-consuming or expensive. But one quick and straightforward way to do this is to Bury 2 White Underwear in the Garden. Confused? Read more below!
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