Farmers on Prince Edward Island are bracing for fertilizer price hikes, as global supply pressure builds. For grain grower Alan Miller, that could make an already expensive season even harder to manage.
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A colder spring has left Miller’s crop slightly behind schedule, but the Elmwood farmer said he has started cultivating his land, and his winter wheat is now at the point where it needs nitrogen fertilizer to support growth. Miller is also science co-ordinator with the Atlantic Grains Council, which warned in late March that eastern growers are facing a “rapidly deteriorating” fertilizer situation ahead of planting. “It’s my number one cost,” he said, adding that it will likely rise as the U.S. war with Iran disrupts supply. Countries around the Persian Gulf are major producers, and the Strait of Hormuz is a key choke point for shipments, with about 30 per cent of global fertilizer trade moving through the waterway. Missile and drone strikes across the region have forced energy facilities to halt output, shutting fertilizer plants there and beyond. That disruption is being compounded by Canada’s existing tariffs on fertilizer imports from Russia and Belarus. The Atlantic Grains ...