IARN — USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the agency is taking steps to fight the high cost of fertilizer for American farmers. The USDA is making $500 million in grants available to increase American-made fertilizer production to spur competition and combat those higher prices. Vilsack said they want these grants to promote competition in America’s fertilizer industry.
“We want it, first and foremost, to be utilized by independent operations,” Vilsack said. “Those are outside the dominant fertilizer companies, so that creates competition and an opportunity for new players if you will. We wanted to be focused on made in America. We want to invest in innovation. We want to make sure that whatever is going into the development as fertilizer is produced sustainably, in terms of the production process or the transportation process, or the feedstock that is used. And we hope that it is farm focused.”
Vilsack also talked about how the agency is structuring the grant program.
“Essentially, we’re going to have two grant application processes,” Vilsack said. “The awards under this program can be anywhere from a million dollars up to $100 million. They can span projects that will take the next three-to-five years. The first application window after it’s filed will be a 45-day application window, and that application window will be for applications designed to make the case they are ready, willing, and able, with additional resources, to provide assistance and relief to farmers in terms of access to fertilizer in crop year 2023 and crop year 2024.”
The second application window will be 90 days and designed for projects that will take longer to complete. For more information, visit grants.gov.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
