Spring 2010 Fertilizer Prices

The Agricultural Marketing Service’s Illinois Production Cost Report for April 15, 2010 indicated that the average prices in Illinois for anhydrous ammonia was $532 per ton, DAP was $263 per ton, and potash was $492 per ton.  These prices have been fairly stable since January 2010 (see Figure below).

There were concerns that fertilizer prices could rise this spring due to poor weather last fall.  This poor weather will lead to more fertilization application in the spring of 2010, potentially leading to higher fertilizer prices due to bottlenecks in fertilizer production and distribution.  At this point, this does not appear to be occurring. 

Moreover, concerns that 2010 could be a late planting year do not appear to be materializing.  As of this date, spring fieldwork appears to be off to a good start, with an extended period of dry weather forecasted.

NRC Biotech Report

The National Research Council (NRC) released a report entitled Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States. Overall press coverage of this report is positive on the impacts of bitechnology.

A National Public Radio (NPR) article quoted David Ervin chair of the committee producing the report: "What we found is that the farmers who adopted these genetically engineered crops have received both environmental and economic benefits. Although genetically engineered seeds often cost more, the farmers more than make up for the discrepancy by using less labor and fewer chemicals to product their crops."

One quibble I have with the above statement is the "less labor" aspect.  The report is likely using this in an "economic sense".  It is doubtful that use of biotech crops have a measurable impact on labor per acre of crop.  What  biotech crops do is make management more streamline in that certain pest and herbicide problems are more easy to deal with.

The Corn & Soybean Digest also had an article on the NRC report.  To some extent the Corn & Soybean Digest article was less positive than the NPR article, emphasizing weed problems that may arise because of resistance to glyphosate.

2009 County Cash Rents

The National Agricultural Statistical Service recently released 2009 cash rents for counties across the United States.  A map showing Illinois cash rents is avaialb on the NASS website.  A map also is available in a recent Illinois Farm Economics: Facts and Opinions (FEF0).  This article also compares 2009 cash rents to 2008 levels.

NASS data presents a mixed picture.  Some counties had cash rent increases while other counties had cash rent decreases.  There does seem to be some geographical dispersion in cash rent changes in that counties with dcreaes apper to be adjacent to one another (see figure).  After several years of large increases in cash rents, 2009 presented more of a stabilizing year in cash rents. 

Another item to note is that some counties had large changes in cash rents between 2008 and 2009.  In the FEFO article, I suggest that this is likely due to 1) local factors impacting cash rents and 2) sample variability when attempting to determine the average cash rent.