A farmer puts fertilizer in the ground before the crop is planted near Dwight, Ill., on April 23, 2020. Scott Olson/Getty Images
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on July 29 announced it was launching a new $500 million program for agricultural producers with the goal of boosting domestic fertilizer production and strengthening the U.S. supply chain.
The Fertilizer Investment & Expansion for Long-Term Domestic Supply (FIELDS) program was heralded as a means to lower fertilizer costs for American farmers in a press conference by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins at the USDA’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
The FIELDS initiative provides funding for companies that construct new fertilizer facilities, purchase existing plants or land to increase fertilizer output through expansion, or invest in fertilizer terminals and transportation infrastructure that improves the efficiency of the domestic supply chain.
“The high cost of fertilizer is not a new issue for our farmers,” Rollins said. “The cost of urea, potash, MAP, DAP, ammonia, and UAN all rose very swiftly in 2022–2023 and remained roughly 55 percent higher at the end of the last administration.”
“Our [agricultural] economy is struggling under the high cost of inputs,” she said.
The FIELDS program will be administered by USDA Rural Development, with funding provided through the Commodity Credit Corporation. Companies that apply for funding can be awarded a maximum of $100 million.
Funds can be used in a variety of ways, including offsetting pre-development and engineering costs, working capital that supports additional production capacity, or modernizing existing fertilizer plants with new or upgraded equipment. Funds also can be used to expand and modify fertilizer production facilities through new construction, customization of production equipment, implementation of new technologies, federal compliance, and enhancing fertilizer logistics networks.
The program is open for 45 days from July 1 through Aug. 17. Applicants must demonstrate financing plans, market demand, project execution capabilities, and measurable benefits for American farmers, Rollins said. Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov.
“We want fertilizer plants built in America, and we are willing to prioritize it,” Rollins said. “We want fertilizer produced in America, and we want fertilizer delivered in America to American farmers. By opening up the market, prices will come down for our farmers.”
Fertilizer prices have spiked significantly since the war with Iran started at the end of February. The price of urea, commonly used in fertilizer to boost nitrogen levels, more than doubled by April following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found. Nearly one-third of the world’s urea supply hails from the Middle East, while 20 percent of the global phosphate supply comes from Saudi Arabia, according to IFPRI.
The United States imported 910,984 tons of urea in April and 1.39 million tons in March, the USDA reported. Fertilizer imports totaled more than 4 million tons in April and exceeded 4.7 million tons in March.
The FIELDS program announcement follows a proclamation by President Donald Trump on June 29 to suspend import duties on potash from Morocco for eight months.
