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Farmers turning to alternative growing methods in wake of sky-high fertiliser price

December 10, 2021

Farmers turning to alternative growing methods in wake of sky-high fertiliser price

A weathered hand holds fertiliser which is charcoal and white coloured grounds
Fertiliser prices have risen sharply this year.(Trevor De Landgrafft)

In 12 months the price of commonly used fertilisers essential for Australia’s $43 billion cropping industries has increased by as much as 230 per cent.

Grain farmers looking to sow summer or winter crops are bracing for a massive increase in production costs and some are looking for alternative options to synthetic fertilisers.

Thomas Elder Markets commodity analyst Andrew Whitelaw recently analysed fertiliser prices and he was shocked by what his modelling revealed.

“If we look at urea and [diammonium phosphate], those prices this time last year were around about $400 to $550 a tonne landed in Australia,” he said.

“Now we’re talking, for both of them, above $1,400 a tonne.

A Rabobank graph shows the increase in input prices farmers are facing.
A Rabobank graph shows the increase in input prices farmers are facing. (Source: CRU, AIP, Baiinfo, Rabobank 2021)

Rising cost of synthetic nitrogen

Mark Seymour, a veteran crop scientist specialising in pulses in Western Australia, said the rising cost of synthetic nitrogen could lead to farmers investigating whether a pasture or pulse crop could fit into their systems to naturally fix nitrogen into the soil.

“No one thing will fit everyone,” he said.

“Some people may just reduce their inputs and grow the same enterprise; there’s talk of more fallow in the areas that do fallow well and for the areas that do legume relatively well, you might expect more go into those and reduce inputs into the legume phase.

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